Vie
by Kaiousei
Summary: Spoilers for up to chapter 227 and then some! Sasunaru! Unable to face the shame of returning alone to Konoha, Naruto goes to Sound with Sasuke.
1. On Sacred Ground

Ohhhhhhhhh, this is exciting! Eee! This is a Naruto muse that's been at the back of my head for a really, really long time... but I only realized it and how to put it to use while playing Naruto: Gekitou Ninja Taisen 3 with my friend. I've had muses coming at me like crazy thanks to that game. It's nuts.

Before you even get to the summary: **THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR UP TO AND INCLUDING CHAPTER 227 OF THE MANGA! ...AND THEN SOME! I have no idea what episode of the anime that is! **You should more or less be perfectly current with the anime before reading this. This fic is violent (read the rating!) and contains **Sasunaru!** It will also be very, very depressing. If I pull it off.

Summary: All over fanfiction, we've read things about what would have happened if Sasuke hadn't left home or if whoever managed to bring him back... but this is a massively angsty Sasunaru fic that takes things a step further. _What if Naruto had gone with him?_ Don't hate me just yet - I went crazy over making sure everyone was in character. It took a lot of time and energy, even just for chapter 1. And now that chapter 1 is over and I can move on, it's very refreshing. I hope everyone loves this fic as much as I do. And, apparantly, I'm pretty quick-on-release as far as people who write multi-parters go.

If you review, I _will_ love you forever! I promise!

Without further ado, I bring you...

**Vie**

Chapter 1: On Sacred Ground

_"It's not meaningless. To me, you are already... my closest friend..."_

Sasuke said that.

Sasuke actually _said_ that. To Naruto.

Naruto stared deeply into his best friend's red eyes, the burning crimson drowning out even the shocking blue of the chidori. He knew that there was no other way. He had to fight Sasuke in order to bring him back. The two of them had never given one another a chance to be friends the way they had both really wanted to be. If Naruto had been given the patience to sit down and actually talk one-on-one with the other boy, the odds that any of this would actually be happening would have been cut down drastically. Even if it was too late, Naruto would fight for that opprotunity. He had to.

...For Sasuke's sake.

The shrieking chitter of the chidori and the roaring winds of the rasengan met in a deadlock of power that - after a few moments of violent struggle - exploded in a backlash of energy, blowing both of the boys in either direction. Sasuke was flung back into the force of the waterfall that rained down between two statues of warriors. Naruto was thrown, skipping across the water until he finally dipped below the surface. Both of them left deep waves crashing against the canyon rocks.

Sasuke swam away from the waterfall that he had been sent into, rising when he was far enough away to reach reasonably steady water. He focused his chakra into his hands and pulled himself up onto the surface. He drew a deep breath of air, immediately focusing his attention on the direction he had seen Naruto disappear. Swearing under his breath, he panted for oxygen as his sharingan eyes darted over the surface for something that he may have missed. He refused to give Naruto an opening to attack.

Naruto had been able to match his full-powered chidori. He had seen that technique before... it was what Naruto had held against him in the earlier fight, the one they had on the rooftop of the hospital before Sakura and Kakashi came between them. When they had been thrown away into the water towers, Sasuke had made the most visible mark, soaking himself to the skin with the water that had poured out over him. Naruto on the other hand had blown the back out entirely, leaving a large jagged hole proving his superiority. In response to the use of his chidori, Naruto had learned something new. Something better... that dropout...

Across the canyon, Naruto swore repetitively to himself, uttering the word like a prayer in his mind until it meant nothing but a confession of helplessness. He allowed himself to float helplessly to the surface. Sasuke watched him from the other end of the lake, fixing his trained eyes on the blonde in case he made any sudden attacks. Yards away, Naruto realized he couldn't fight anymore. He turned his head slowly from his place, floating in the water, watching Sasuke as the Uchiha heir stared at him.

...he just couldn't do it. It had finally occured to Naruto - with wrenching pain in his stomach - that Sasuke had really wanted to kill him. He really...

One more chidori. One more chidori was all he needed. Kakashi had told him when they had been training that two were Sasuke's limit... but two wasn't enough. His chakra might be drained to zero, and he might end up dying... but he was desperate. He stared intently at Naruto as the blonde slowly rose in his place, making no moves at all to attack. Sasuke would have to pull off another chidori perfectly to end the fight. It would have to be after a fast move, so he could leave Naruto defenseless for the blow.

He really... Naruto's eyes were burning. His lungs were burning. It wasn't from the fight - it was from some deep tight feeling inside his chest. When he finally managed to get back up to his feet, he discovered that he was crying. His breaths were painful and sharp and he could feel warm tears running down his face. '..._you really... want to kill me... like you... don't feel anything_...' He sobbed, choking on his thoughts as he clenched his teeth. '_Sasuke_...' He couldn't see Sasuke's expression. He couldn't see any regret in those red, power-hungry eyes. '_He's really thinking, seriously... about how to kill me. Right now. In that head of his... he really... he seriously wants to_...'

"You know something, Naruto?" Sasuke's voice sounded the same as it ever had as he growled threateningly. Orochimaru's seal spread a dark pattern like fire across his face. Naruto looked away - he couldn't face it. He didn't understand why Sasuke would want to... "They say that a first-class ninja can understand what lurks deep within an opponent's heart just by crossing paths once... They don't even need to say anything." Sasuke rose slowly, stretching his limbs in a subtle way as he allowed the seal to take him over, giving him power. "You are too naieve, Naruto."

Naruto stared at his hands. He _had_ been naieve...

"Well?" The blonde's eyes darted upwards once more as Sasuke shot up straight, adopting a posture Naruto had seen many times before. "Can you see what lurks deep inside? What lurks deep in my heart!"

"_Katon!_" Sasuke closed his hands in a seal as he drew in a gasp and leaned back, the curse seal drawing it's pattern completely across Sasuke's body. Naruto hesitated, waiting for his timing as Sasuke finally exhaled, breathing fireballs in his direction. "_Housenka no Jutsu!_"

Naruto didn't have the heart to fight any longer, but he managed to dodge the fire. He focused his chakra to fuel his leap, but in the air Naruto turned to discover Sasuke had followed him up. The Uchiha managed to spin, delivering Naruto a powerful kick to the jaw to send the blonde spinning downwards. As he fell, Naruto caught a glimpse of his old friend's face. He was smiling. His sharingan eyes were wide and wild with the adrenaline of battle, and the chakra seething out through his seal.

...and all he could see was Sasuke years before, sad and alone.

Sasuke was always alone. Naruto had almost begun to believe that Sasuke might have been like him... Someone who he could finally be friends with... and he was relieved that neither of them would be alone anymore. Naruto was so happy... he couldn't wait to finally talk to Sasuke. He wanted to meet him right away!

Naruto hit the water hard, and the sound of the splash he made clapped against his ears.

...but his voice never did reach Sasuke. He could already do everything so well... and he was so popular with everyone...

It took longer than it should have for Naruto to recover. His heart just wasn't in it anymore. He turned to slowly to see Sasuke coming at him with a punch, and he barely managed to move in time to get his arm up and catch the other boy's attack. Sasuke was smiling...

...Sasuke was different from Naruto. The blonde had gotten his hopes up so badlythat they could be friends... Naruto felt terrible when it didn't work out... but he refused to forget about Sasuke. Hoping that they would get to know each other eventually, Naruto had claimed Sasuke to be his rival, whether or not the other boy chose to acknowledge him. He didn't want to lose... because Sasuke would call him a loser. Even when they became Team 7, nothing had changed. Naruto was stubborn... and he always spoke his mind...

Sasuke broke free of Naruto's grasp with ease, landing a punch to his face. The pain still failed to compare...

...Naruto... wanted to be like Sasuke. Sasuke was... his aspiration. That was why he was so happy when Sasuke finally acknowledged him. With the words "I want to fight you, too"... Sasuke acknowledged Naruto for the first time.

Naruto squinted his eyes shut and clenched his teeth against reality as Sasuke held him trembling in the air by the collar of his jacket. In his other hand, the chidori sang it's threatening song faithfully.

'..._but you and I already understand each other... even without having to cross paths in a match... you didn't say it then, but now I know_...'

Shaking, Naruto forced himself to open his eyes as Sasuke drew him closer, smirking with the knowledge that he had already won.

'..._we were already friends_!'

"_It's not meaningless. To me, you are already... my closest friend..._"

...Naruto needed to show Sasuke what friends did for each other.

"Sasuke! Let's stop this!"

'..._it may just be me having this one-sided friendship dream, but if that's the case, I've really made a fool out of myself, haven't I, Sasuke? But it's not like I could help it. I don't understand why, but I just don't... I just can't..._'

"Ha! You fool!" Sasuke barked back in his face, drawing back his arm, bearing back the chidori and holding it ready. "You think anything you can say will change things now!"

"I... I just can't let you be taken away by Orochimaru or anybody!" Naruto reached up and grasped the arm that held him in the air, his bright blue eyes meeting Sasuke's evenly. "I don't want to lose you, Sasuke!"

Sasuke's smirk faded slightly, his eyes squinting for a moment. "You talk too much!" He announced, finally bringing up the courage to attack Naruto with the chidori.

Naruto managed to react before Sasuke could hit him. He had no time - or desire - to waste creating another rasengan. Pulling against the arm that held him aloft, Naruto kicked Sasuke's arm up over his head as it came at him. Although it sent numbing tremors up his leg, Sasuke's balance was thrown due to the momentum that he had placed behind the blow. The chidori sizzled to an end, the static frazzling Naruto's hair.

"Damn you!" Sasuke roared, his last chance wasted. He threw Naruto with all of his might at the closest stone wall in his frustration, and he gritted his teeth as he growled, running to chase the blonde and catch him off-guard.

Naruto used his chakra to push against the air and he spun, landing with his feet against the cliff face. "Sasuke!" he called, backing up the wall.

This time, Sasuke wasn't listening. Instead, he ran across the water and chased Naruto up the side of the cliff, letting out a growl as his sharingan flashed in his eyes.

Naruto chose instead to flip over Sasuke's head and away from the wall, but he was forced to block several quick punches from his friend before gravity took him and threw him down again. "I won't fight you anymore, Sasuke!" he cried, forgetting to focus his chakra until he discovered himself under water, and unable to breathe. He couldn't fight Sasuke anymore... but he would not let Sasuke kill him. There were too many people waiting for them to come home to Konoha. Naruto gathered the air in his throat as he pushed downward against the water, praying to descend in time to gather his thoughts. But he coughed as his collar bunched against his throat, and he was pulled against his effort back into the air, where he swallowed a deep breath to gather himself and choked on the water he had enhaled.

"Why won't you fight me!" Sasuke roared, not bothering to turn Naruto around to get him facing in the proper direction for the blonde to see his face. Instead, he dropped Naruto in time to deliver a sharp elbow into his side, sending him spinning through the air once again.

This time, Naruto almost caught himself before he fell under. His hands held the chakra below the surface, and as Sasuke ran to attack him again, Naruto retreated under the water, reaching back to push Sasuke's feet out from underneath him. The Uchiha boy slipped clumsily and stumbled across the surface - an amusing sight for those who saw him as a proud and strong individual.

"I won't fight you because you're my friend!" Naruto managed to blurt out with a gasp as he fumbled to the air. "I'm tired of fighting you! What's the point, Sasuke?"

"Are you stupid!" Sasuke asked, straightening himself as if he was contemplating on whether or not to risk using the chidori again. "I'm leaving the village and you can't stop me!" Sasuke pulled out a set of kunai and threw them at Naruto. "Fight me seriously!"

Naruto didn't even bother trying to dodge the kunai - he had faith that the Kyuubi would heal him. One flew close to his ear, shredding a few locks of hair from his head. Another dug itself high in his shoulder on the same side. The third embedded into the center of Naruto's chest, and he winced shamelessly at the pain. "I can't fight you!" He choaked as he grabbed at the kunai and pulled them painfully out of skin. For the first time in his life, Naruto didn't have the heart to fight. He had only realized days before that fighting was the only way they had to acknowledge each other. Friendship wasn't supposed to work that way... "...but I can't go home without you!"

There was nothing more Sasuke wanted to do than have a good match with Naruto where he could beat the blonde into the dirt. It was that inspiration that was hurting Naruto. "You won't have to!" Sasuke announced. "I'll kill you first!" The Uchiha was getting impatient and began flinging more kunai at Naruto as he began approaching.

Naruto dipped and dodged with minimal effort to escape what he could, taking several of the weapons into himself with winces and gasps, only to pull them out again. Naruto was tired of having to communicate through fighting. "I came here to get you, you idiot!" The blonde growled as viciously as he could muster now that his fire was gone. He was exhausted and discouraged, and with several slowly-healing kunai wounds, he was sore as well. "Why is that Orochimaru guy so important to you? Don't you care about your friends?"

"I don't need friends!" Sasuke announced, throwing one last kunai at Naruto's head, which the fox-boy managed to duck under.

"Well, I do!" Naruto cried back, pointing a thumb at his chest, "and everyone's counting on me to bring you home! Do you realize what we had to go through getting here!"

"You wasted your time!" Sasuke shouted, assured that Naruto wasn't going to attack him long enough to consider how to come at the blonde again. "I'm not going back!"

"If we're friends, what did I do to make you want to kill me, Sasuke?"

Sasuke tensed for a moment, relaxing as he exhaled. Naruto's stomach tightened nervously as Sasuke laughed. The question he had asked was the right one, but the only thought that occured to Sasuke was how little Naruto knew about Itachi. "If I refuse to go back, and you refuse to go back without me, what other option is there but to kill you?"

"I'm not going to let you kill me," Naruto said confidently, striding continuing his stride toward Sasuke. "I'll track you down for the rest of my life, but I refuse to face home without you." It won't be _home_ without you... "And I refuse to die until I do!"

Standing face-to-face, neither moved. Naruto wondered for a long time whether or not either of them would accomplish anything this way. They were both so stubborn...

"You can die trying," Sasuke growled, "because I won't let you win."

"We'll see about that," Naruto growled back. "I refuse to lose."

Seeing his opprotunity, Sasuke took his chance in having Naruto so close and punched the blonde solidly in the face, sending him flying a few feet while Sasuke turned slowly and began to walk up the side of the cliff while rubbing his fist. Although agitated and unsatisfied, his hesitation had caused the fingernails of second-thoughts to creep into his mind, and he chose to walk away before he could begin to accept them. Closing his eyes, he focused on his goal and shut out those doubts. He would go to the Sound. He would find Orochimaru. He would become stronger, and he would destroy Naruto as well as Itachi.

"So how are are we going anyway, you bastard?" Naruto asked, approaching him from behind.

Without thinking, Sasuke spun and backhanded Naruto in the face. The blonde fell until he managed to run his foot against the cliff face, and he used his chakra to slow himself to a stop. His nose was bleeding from the punch a few moments ago, and now his lip was swollen from puncturing a tooth through it. But already the blood was drying and his lip had stopped swelling. It was frustrating how Sasuke couldn't make a mark on Naruto. "What the hell are you doing!"

"I said it already," Naruto growled with a bitter smile, rubbing his lip with the back of his hand. "I'm going to follow you there until you give up, and I'll drag you back!"

Sasuke stared at him long and hard. "Don't bother, you idiot! I'm _not_ going back! No matter what you say!"

"I'll have to knock you out and drag you back while you're sleeping, then!" Naruto resolved with a mischevious grin as he approached Sasuke. This time he stepped off to the side and chose to walk past him, up the canyon side. "Is Sound country this way?"

Sasuke was obviously shocked and confused. Naruto was serious about this...? "...Just fight me, already!" He snarked, striking an offensive position against the side of the cliff.

"Is it, then?" Naruto asked, pointing up and toward Sound country as he continued walking. He wasn't taking Sasuke seriously, and that infuriated him even more.

The Uchiha ran up the cliff to meet Naruto, where he kicked his legs out from underneath him and ducked in time to hear the blonde yelp as he fell over Sasuke's head. The road clear, Sasuke ran up the cliff as fast as he could, only to have Naruto quickly catch up to him once again, running on all fours. "You should know by now that it isn't that easy to get rid of me, Sasuke-chan!"

Sasuke had known Naruto long enough to realize that the only reason he was trying so hard to get on his nerves was because he was uncertain of his decision, and he was trying to forget what may or may not have been wrong with it. Regardless, Sasuke was furious and therefore forgot to consider the connotations of Naruto's actions. First, he had been there to stop Sasuke, and now he was racing him to Orochimaru. Was this some kind of joke?

It always seemed to be that way when Naruto was involved.

As they reached the top of the cliff, Sasuke yelled at Naruto to stop fooling around, and as Naruto raced toward Sound country in order to prove his confused point, Sasuke chased at his heels. The brunette pulled all the stops he could think of to keep the blonde in one spot long enough to fight him, but no matter how hard he tried, Naruto wouldn't be stilled. Instead he bounced off of trees and branches while grinning brightly at Sasuke and chiding him the entire way. Sasuke roared in frustration, unable to believe Naruto had managed to deflect his chidori at the right time. He didn't have the chakra left to try it again, and the fight would have been over by now. His entire choice to leave Konoha had been to isolate himself. At Orochimaru's side, he would be alone and strong and independant. He didn't need Konoha - he had Orochimaru. Konoha didn't need him - Orochimaru did. Sasuke didn't like to think about what the Legendary Sannin had been planning to use him for. Orochimaru wanted his body for the sake of perpetual life, but Sasuke didn't know what to really do about that. Orochimaru made him strong - he made Sasuke special... he would cross the other hurdles when he came to them.

The one thing he did know was that this had nothing to do with Naruto.

He didn't know how he got into the right angle, but Sasuke managed to land a punch square into Naruto's stomach, and sent the genin forward to slam his back into a tree. The tree shook violently in response, and Sasuke approached Naruto as he tried to catch his breath. The Uchiha was aggravated and wanted to end the fight quickly, so he thought fast as he approached his friend.

"Sasuke-san," a familiar voice spoke to him from behind, and both Naruto and Sasuke turned to lay their eyes on none other than Kabuto. The blow had stunned Naruto for a few moments, but the boy quickly managed to stumble to his feet, uttering a growl under his breath as he did so. Kabuto regarded him for a moment before turning back to Sasuke. "We've been waiting for you..." he murmured, shooting a glance at Naruto again from the corner of his eye. "...but I never expected you to bring us company. Why are you here, Naruto-kun?"

Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but Sasuke inturrupted. "He followed me," Sasuke grumbled between clenched teeth as he visibly relaxed. He would have been nervous going to Sound country, but now that he was there, Sasuke was glad that he would be rid of Naruto. Or at least, he thought so. "Go back to Konoha while you can, Naruto!"

"Not without you!" Naruto barked back, rubbing at his stomach absently, and at length he added "...you total moron!"

Kabuto was conflicted. This wasn't something he and Orochimaru had considered. The persuers, yes... Judging by their lack of prescence, Kabuto decided that most, if not all of the sound-nin that they had sent out were dead. Leaf genins were definately something... but Kabuto was confident that they had at least left a deep scar in the numbers of those they had sent after Sasuke. If the sound-nin _were_ in fact, dead, that left Orochimaru practically void of talented and loyal protectors. Neither he nor Sasuke would be permitted to stray far from Orochimaru's side.

Kabuto pushed his glasses up his nose with two fingers as Sasuke and Naruto yelled at each other for him, the former attacking with punches and kicks with every opprotunity. Already having lost the will to fight, Naruto was losing the energy to do much else as well. It was a very nostalgic situation for the traitor. If Orochimaru had the Kyuubi, things might get very interesting...

Looking up, Sasuke and Naruto had scuffled one-sidedly several feet in another direction, bickering in verbal circles that Kabuto had no longer believed would be a problem with Sasuke after choosing to come to Orochimaru. He had thought that Sasuke was more mature than that, but it all just seemed to be a result of the way Sasuke and Naruto interacted. Kabuto sighed. "Naruto-kun..." he murmured.

Naruto, firey with awkward anger, twirled to face him just as Kabuto had expected him to. "Shut up, you snake loving--!"

Sasuke reacted in exactly the way Kabuto had hoped that he would, delivering a swift strike to the back of Naruto's head. Sasuke had been waiting for the opprotunity since the two of them had begun running, and he took it as soon as Kabuto provided the distraction. Naruto fell, unconcious to his knees, and Kabuto knelt to catch him by the shoulders before he fell face-first into the dirt.

The two of them exchanged narrow stares as they sighed in unison.

"...where is Orochimaru?" Sasuke inquired at length.

"He is waiting for you in his lair in Sound country," Kabuto responded briefly. "You came too late, and he was force to adopt another host."

"...I see," Sasuke responded emptily, the expression on his face remaining unreadable now that Naruto had been subdued.

"...but don't worry. He's very pleased to have you. It will just take some time before he can use you, yet. Until then, there is much training that can be done." As he spoke, Kabuto shifted Naruto in his arms until he was standing with the blonde hanging limp over his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Sasuke asked bitterly, his voice sharp. The last thing he wanted was for Naruto to get involved.

"Sasuke," Kabuto smiled mildly, making Sasuke angry, "you managed to bring us the Kyuubi. I'm sure Orochimaru-sama will be elated. I don't know yet what he might do with him yet, but..." Kabuto hesitated when he noticed Sasuke's expression change dramatically.

"...the Kyuubi?"

* * *

Kakashi finally arrived at the Valley of the End in time to discover it raining and empty. It was such a symbolic place that he wasn't shocked they ended up there, but he was surprised to discover that it didn't end there. The jounin slowed his pace to a stop as he stared out over the waterfall. The rain was falling in full force, swiftly darkening the ground under his feet. Kakashi stared out over the water below.

...Where were they?

"The scent went off into sound country..." Pakkun muttered. "I lost it."

"...was it both of them?" Kakashi inquired carefully. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

Pakkun shook his little head. "I couldn't tell. It's gone now."

"Hmm..." Kakashi's expression remained concealed under his mask.

The jounin had been aware from the very beginning that it was going to be hard to take Sasuke back away from his decision... but where was Naruto?


	2. This Fragile Life

**Vie**

THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL THE FEEDBACK ON CHAPTER ONE! _Sniff_. I love you guys! I appreciate every single comment and review... I read them all multiple times... I'm just that pathetic... uh-huh. _Sniffle._

I'm sorry! It took me longer than I intended to finish Chapter 2 - I had a busy week, not to mention it took me a while to figure out exactly what I was gonna do with it. I had graduation and prom and blah blah blah... I have to go job-hunting and student-loan scrounging this week, but now that it's summer I can tell you for sure they'll be coming a bit faster.

This whole chapter is about the happenings inside Konoha! I wanted other characters to be in it, so now I'm working them in without really knowing what I'm going to do with them! Isn't that exciting! Oh yeah! Don't worry though! Chapter 3 gets back to Sasuke and Naruto! Just bear with me.

...I LOVE YOU GUYS!

* * *

Chapter 2: This Fragile Life

It was after dark when the genins finally arrived home to Konoha.They rode in on the makeshift stretchers of the medical ninja, their faces shielded by the jackets of others out of the rain. Jiraiya watched them rush through the city gates one after another from his position perched on the wall surrounding the city, toting an umbrella to shield him from the torrent of rain that was beginning to subside. Although no one had informed him yet of what had happened on the journey, he watched as the results of the journey filed in one after the other. Akimichi Chouji didn't seem all that bloody, but Jiraiya could guess that he had used the pills his family was famous for. His body probably couldn't take the strain. Using his judgement, he decided it might be difficult to recusitate him, and it may already be too late for that. Hyuuga Neji was suffering from multiple wounds that you could see were serious, including a hole that ran through his chest. The medical ninja ran him into the city with more haste than they had with Chouji. It wasn't likely that they would be able to save the Hyuuga boy at all. Jiraiya pursed his lips silently. Naruto would be upset if someone died. Either way, this entire group would likely be hearing lectures about what it meant to be a ninja. Death happened. That was a part of the job, as well as whole other aspect of life.

It stopped raining by the time the second party arrived, and Jiraiya had closed his umbrella and leaned it against the inside of the city wall. Inuzuka Kiba was carried in on a stretcher, half-concious as the boy stroked his dog's fur slowly. The two of them would be fine, but not so much as Nara Shikamaru, who came out of the forest walking without so much as a limp. A trio of medical ninja were still pleading with him to climb onto a stretcher so that they could take him to the hospital quickly to be treated, but Shikamaru ignored them. He walked of his own accord through the city gates, one hand hanging limply at his side while he silently examined his broken finger of the other. Both Jiraiya and Shikamaru knew together that he would be fine - likely the best one off out of the original team. The boy glanced up to meet the old man's gaze, and the Sannin nodded at him with a reassuring smile. In spite of the kind gesture, Shikamaru looked dejectedly away. Close at his heels, Temari and Kankurou came in without a scratch on them talking quietly to one another about how strong - but naieve leaf genin were. Jiraiya couldn't help but agree with them.

It was always in the most tragic ways that the young ones realized what it really was that they were getting themselves into. By the time they got that far, they had already given up most of their lives. It was hard for them to turn back to any other way of life. Jiraiya placed his head on his hand, his elbow on his knee which was propped against the city wall. He could feel his hair blowing out behind him by the cool, damp wind as he stood still and waited for the results that really mattered to him. It was heartless, but... He sighed.

He was worried, but he had faith in Naruto.

Rock Lee and Gaara of the Desert came in together, tired and bearing scrapes and bruises. Lee had chosen to walk rather than being on a stretcher - likely eager for a chance to gain the exercise - and Gaara had decided to walk beside him as well. His arms were crossed, his face was solemn and his posture was as neutral as ever while Lee beside him told him colourful stories about what he had been able to accomplish using hard work. He was in the middle of what appeared to be a particularly lengthy tale as he went through the gates and realized that he had actually ended up gaining nothing from that particular situation. Having ruined his own glory, Lee slouched and pouted for a moment, walking sloppily onward. Gaara turned to him slowly, offering a quiet suggestion that Jiraiya failed to hear from his position. As the boy from Sand continued walking, Lee straightened and ran to his new friend's side, crying "Gaara-san is so nice!"

Jiraiya didn't move from his position for several hours. Instead, he recieved several stares from those who patrolled the city walls. Everyone knew who he was... they just didn't understand why he was there, and they were too polite to ask. Jiraiya was 50 years old and understood what it meant to be patient. He stayed where he was and waited for his apprentice to return home, bearing unwavering faith that the boy would be fine.

...but his certainty failed when he saw Kakashi appear before the village, hopping down from a tree branch as the sun began to peak over the horison. He slowed to a stop before staring up at the doors for a long time and heaving a visible sigh.

"Kakashi!" Jiraiya called, straightening from his position and finally being able to move as he took to the edge of the wall and jumped down. Kakashi watched him in silence as several medical-ninja rushed past them, racing to assist those who had already returned to Konoha. Kakashi stared off after them, unable to face Jiraiya as he asked the inevitable question. "Where are they?"

"I can't tell you for sure," Kakashi replied at length. "...I think it's safe to assume that Sasuke succeeded in going to join Orochimaru."

Jiraiya nodded slowly, his face firm as he continued. "...and Naruto?"

"Naruto..." Kakashi murmured, closing his eye. "...I have no idea. But I think... he may have gone along with Sasuke."

"What?" Jiraiya leaned in order to look Kakashi in the eye. "Are you serious?"

Kakashi sighed. "We followed their trails to the Valley of the End. There was no one there, and it started to rain. There was nothing more we could do since we were unable to track their scents any further." Rather than pursuing that train of thought, Kakashi blew it off. "Anything could have happened between their departure and my arrival."

"...I see," Jiraiya murmured, straightening once more. "Did you survey the area?"

"Yes," Kakashi answered. "They had quite a fight there, it seems. But it was over."

Jiraiya hummed quietly to himself. He didn't want to doubt Kakashi - the man was a fantastic ninja. But Jiraiya knew in his gut that something else must have happened to Naruto. Why would he, bearing the Kyuubi, choose to walk straight into Orochimaru's grasp? The Legendary Sannin stroked his chin thoughtfully as he closed his eyes. "This is... worrisome."

"Indeed," Kakashi said, crossing his arms. He wasn't looking forward to telling Sakura.

* * *

"...so neither of them made it home...?" Tsunade confirmed, keeping a straight face as she washed her hands off in a nearby sink. It had been a huge burden off of her back when she was able to tell Shikamaru that everyone would be okay. She had planned to check with the hospital staff for Naruto's room when Kakashi intercepted her in the hallway. He didn't have to say anything for her to understand the situation based upon the look on his face. "It's alright, Kakashi. Like you said in the first place; it was my fault from the beginning for only sending genin out after him... but I had faith in Naruto. I'm sure that he fought with everything he had to take Sasuke home. These kids have proven to me today that they are a lot stronger than we give them credit for. They managed to prevail over Orochimaru's strongest." Tsunade sighed, straightening in her place. "Do you have any idea where they may have gone?"

"I believe Sasuke may have taken Naruto to Sound country," he replied quietly.

"Sound country..." Tsunade echoed, brushing her bangs from her face as she stared down at her feet. "That is an interesting assumption."

"They were together when we lost their trial - that is all the evidence I really have to go by." Kakashi folded his arms over his chest and closed his eye in thought. "The one thing is that - as far as I know - Sasuke wasn't aware that Naruto had the Kyuubi. I believe that would be the only reason for Orochimaru to be interested in Naruto... but I don't think that would have been enough for Sasuke."

"...Maybe Sasuke and Naruto got tired of fighting and chose to abandon both ends together?" Tsunade suggested with a smile.

The proposition seemed to surprise Kakashi, and he stared at her for a moment. "...I don't think Sasuke _or_ Naruto would have been eager to do that."

"I think that if we've learned anything in this whole ordeal, Kakashi-san, it's that we don't know Sasuke quite as well as we would all like to believe, am I right?" Tsunade tilted her head to peer up at his face. "During the fight, Naruto may have told him he had the Kyuubi. Maybe Sasuke figured it out on his own. Everyone knows that the two of them need to sit down and talk out their problems. There are plenty of ways that Sasuke may have found out about the Kyuubi, and chose to bring his new master a gift." She sighed and stood up straight again, placing a hand on her hop. "Orochimaru is sick like that."

"I suppose anything could happen, but..." Kakashi sighed. Perhaps he didn't know his students as well has he would have liked to believe. He knew they had their problems that they had to overcome, but he also had faith that all of them would knew how to do the right thing in the end. He never would have guessed that Sasuke would have chosen the blood-strewn path of life. Kakashi had tried to teach the boy lessons about selfishness using himself as an example, but Sasuke had never been much of one for talking, and Kakashi had a hard time talking about himself. He wanted to believe that he had done his best to do the right thing... but now Sasuke was giving up his life and his body to Orochimaru. And now Naruto... "I like to think I knew him better than that."

"Everyone will always say those kinds of things about a person," she told him as she averted her gaze to stare down the hallway. "Be careful."

Kakashi turned to follow her gaze to see his student walking slowly up the hall, Sakura's hands folded shyly on her chest and her green eyes wide with concern as she watched them both.

"I can tell her," Tsunade murmured to Kakashi quietly enough to keep the girl from hearing.

"No, I should," Kakashi protested. "I am her teacher."

"_I'm_ the Hokage," she reminded him playfully with an accompanying wink, but she failed to clear the air. "It doesn't matter either way; the news will be the same, and just as painful for her."

"I suppose... but I feel responsible," he confessed.

He murmured a quiet farewell over his shoulder as he turned and walked down the hall to meet the last remaining member of his team. Tsunade watched with a softening face as Sakura gazed up at Kakashi, concern on her face as she asked him the question of the day. With one hand in his pocket, Kakashi put his free arm on her shoulder and turned her around to walk her back down the hall. Sakura's bright eyes lingered on Tsunade's face for a moment as she turned, and the Hokage managed to bear the most supportive smile she could muster as the girl disappeared down the hall under Kakashi's supportive guidance. Tsunade was finally left to herself.

Turning, she placed her hands on her hips and turned to stare down at the other end of the hall. The sun shining through the windows as it drew to an afternoon height left a bright square shining on the tile floor. Everything was silent. It was peaceful... but all of Konoha would seem quiet now to those who had known Uzumaki Naruto. Until they found him, he wouldn't be playing ninja with Konohamaru, or getting into fights with Sasuke, or convincing his teachers to buy him ramen. The hokage closed her eyes and pondered a moment over whether the feeling might have been the same for Naruto without Sasuke.

* * *

You would never know just looking at him that Jiraiya was heartbroken. Naruto knew very well that his training had been far from over. Jiraiya had skills upon skills that he had been planning to teach the boy - but he was hurt over the thought that Naruto felt that Jiraiya's training wasn't worth coming home for. The Legendary Sannin sighed, sitting on a bench in the middle of Konoha, a foot resting on his knee as he stroked his chin in thought. If Tsunade were there, she probably would have told him that he _wasn't _worth coming home for.

...but Naruto was smart. He liked to believe that he could take on the world on his own, but he acknowledged that he didn't know how yet. That was why Jiraiya had helped him in the first place. He made a much better teacher than the closet-pervert that the genin would make fun of all the time. Not as if Jiraiya was much better, being called 'pervert hermit'.

Jiraiya put his foot down on the ground and stilled his hands firm against his knees as he stared off towards the ramen shop nearby. Konoha hadn't been Jiraiya's favorite place to begin with, and now the village seemed so silent... he could hardly imagine being able to stay there for very long at all. There were more important things for him to take care of now anyway. Inwardly, Jiraiya swore he would sacrifice his girl-watching in favor of sincere information gathering. There was something more going on than he knew, and he had to fill in those blank holes with research. Standing finally, Jiraiya brushed off his clothes and made his way toward the hospital to apologize and say goodbye to Tsunade. He had to take care of his student.

* * *

None of Naruto's friends knew how to react to the news. They had placed so much faith in the fact that Naruto would complete his mission, they didn't know what to think at the concept that he hadn't even made it home. Gaara, Temari, Kankurou, Lee, Kiba and Shikamaru all sat together in Kiba's hospital room as they waited for Neji and Chouji to regain conciousness as the chuunin stared down at his broken finger. Everyone exchanged silent glances while Lee jumped back and pointed accusatory at Gaara.

"You said Naruto would be fine!" He cried, his eyes filling with tears. "You lied to me, Gaara-san!"

"...this is unusual," Gaara commented, paying the shinobi no mind.

"Something big must have happened," Kiba said with a nod, appearing very awkward without Akamaru. The dog was with his sister and the bandages he wore constricted his movement. "That Sasuke guy must have... oh, uhhh... I don't know - knocked him out and sold him for slavery."

Shikamaru seemed to have a hard time believing it himself. He pursed his lips and stared at his hands.

"...or maybe he saw a chance to gain power for himself and took it," Temari proposed, a hand on her hip and a smirk on her lips.

"Don't joke about that!" Lee wailed.

"Naruto isn't that selfish," Shikamaru mumbled.

"Yeah," Kiba agreed. "The only reason he ever wanted to become stronger was to live up to Sasuke, and to become a better ninja so he could be Hokage."

"Jeez," Temari sighed. "I was only joking."

Tsunade had been standing outside the door, observing the ninja when she noticed Jiraiya walking down the hall towards her. She momentarily stopped paying attention to the conversation and turned her attention to the other Legendary Sannin and she asked the only question she needed answered. "What will you do?"

Jiraiya moved his mouth into something most people would assume was a smile. "I'm going to gather information," he replied.

"I thought so," she smiled back. "But I can tell you're serious this time."

"It's a better time than any," he said. "This time, I have a reason."

"How loyal of you," Tsunade chided. "I'm impressed."

"I didn't come here for your approval," Jiraiya said sharply. "I came here for your help."

Tsunade said nothing, but instead raised an eyebrow in question.

Jiraiya averted his eyes. "I never had a reason to ask you for help before - you never had anything I needed and you never would have given it to me anyway. Now, I've gone full-circle and have become Konoha's errand-boy again. Whether you agree with me or not, I must find my student, and I would like the help of Konoha if I need it - which I have the feeling I will."

Tsunade sighed dramatically, recieving an annoyed stare from Jiraiya. "I suppose..." She said, rolling her eyes. "The rescue or destruction of Sasuke is just another battle in the war. I don't see how this is any less relevant." She nodded finally, serious. "Of course I'll help you, Jiraiya. I want to see Naruto safe as badly as you do. I wish I could come myself."

Jiraiya nodded. "Thank you, old hag."

"You're welcome, pervert-hermit." Jiraiya's eyes shot up at her in a glare when she said that, but she paid no attention. "What kind of assistance were you looking for?"

"Well..." he sighed, scratching his chin as he recovered from the insult. "Right now, I can gather information on my own, but depending on how things turn out I may need assistance."

Tsunade nodded. "I already know a few people who would be eager to help you."

"Good, hold those thoughts," Jiraiya said, holding up a steady hand. "I'm counting on you to gather people for me while I go do my research. When I'm back I should be able to tell you more specifically who I might need. Right now I just need to go gather information. I don't know how long I will be gone."

"Well, Konoha isn't going anywhere. We still have to pick up the pieces from the battle with the Sand." Tsunade stepped forward, placing a hand on her partner's shoulder, recieving a curious look from the other Legendary Sannin. "We're counting on you, Jiraiya."

Jiraya glanced at Tsunade's hand before turning back to her and smiling. "I am, too," he replied before turning to depart from the hospital. "See you later."

"Good luck," she said, waving.

Inside the hospital room, the talking had fallen silent until Tsunade peeked her head back in to discover all of the room's residents had been eavesdropping.

"I WANT TO HELP, TOO!" Lee cried, the others in the group sharing the sentiment shortly after.

* * *

It was difficult, even when Kakashi could see it in her eyes that Sakura knew what he was going to say. Regardless, he had to say it anyway.

He told her quietly as he stared off into space as the two of them sat together on a small bench outside of the hospital. He had deliberately led her to sit on his left so he wouldn't seem quite so rude while avoiding her gaze. Her reaction wasn't unpredicted as she sniffed loudly. He could hear her shift as she raised a hand to wipe at her eyes. "...I see." She said, emitting a sound that almost sounded like a sharp laugh. She was weak; she was helpless... Kakashi could almost hear her thoughts as they ran through her head.

Sighing to himself, Kakashi placed a hand on the girl's head and ruffled her hair gently. "Don't blame yourself, Sakura-chan. There was nothing you could do."

"I asked him to go," Sakura sobbed, more openly now as she trembled gently under his hand. "I asked him to... to go bring Sasuke back... And... and now, because of me... because of me, they..."

"Don't think about it that way," he said, finally finding the courage to look at her as the tears ran down her face.

"I was never strong enough to keep up with them," she cried, burying her face in her hands. "It was just a matter of time before... they left me behind..."

"They didn't leave you behind, Sakura." Kakashi knew he had to be supportive - but he didn't know where to begin. "Sasuke chose to leave Konoha behind - all of Konoha. It wasn't just you. He had it in his head that all of Konoha was holding him back. No matter what you wished Sasuke would be to you, he was just a hate-filled individual bent on revenge. Revenge requires power, and he left Konoha to gain it. We all tried to stop him in any way we could - it was no one's fault. If you blame anyone, blame me. I did my best to drive the thought from his mind while we trained together, but I failed. When he left, I was too late to get to him in time."

"I watched him leave..." She sniffed. "...there was nothing I could do."

"Don't worry, Sakura," her teacher murmured reassuringly. "Sometimes I wonder about Sasuke, but Naruto would rather die trying before he let Sasuke leave Konoha to turn down that path."

"That's what I'm afraid of," she sighed, her voice descending into a whisper. "Kakashi-sensei..." She met his gaze before moving to clutch at his shirt. She buried her crying face into his shoulder as she unleashed her despair and helplessness. "Help me become stronger..."

Kakashi didn't know how to react to the situation, so he simply placed his free arm around her shoulder and rubbed her back reassuringly. He had never been a very emotional person, but he couldn't shake away his own loyalty to be rude enough to brush her away.

_Naruto won't let his friends die._

Kakashi had already made up his mind when Tsunade found them, and she approached silently, her face silent with respect.

"Jiraiya is going to find them," she said.

Kakashi nodded slowly in response. "I would like to help him. Both of us - after I train Sakura."

Sakura's sobs relented a moment as she turned her eyes up to stare disbelievingly at her teacher.

Tsunade narrowed her eyes at him. "Konoha needs you right now, Kakashi-san."

"I know," Kakashi said. "I would like to request time to do so as soon as I possibly can..." He turned his eyes down to his student. "As long as that's okay with you, Sakura-chan."

"Kakashi-sensei..." Sakura sniffed, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. "Yes... Yes, I want to."

"Good," Kakashi nodded.


	3. Spider's String

**Vie**

Hello everyone, and welcome to another chapter of Vie! I apologise for taking so long since my last update - I've been building a Tales Fanfiction Archive and it's taken a lot of my time (not to mention Harry Potter...). So anyway! Here's chapter 3, which isn't as long as the others. I meant to get a lot more into this one, but I ended up cutting one massive chapter into two smaller ones.

This chapter is back to Naruto and Sasuke, as will the next one! After that, though, I'm not so sure.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed! I love you all! (Especially you, Dreams Raven!)

* * *

Chapter 3: Spider's String

Sasuke made it a point to express extendedly his distaste over Naruto's prescence to whoever would listen. It was Sasuke who had come to be with Orochimaru - Naruto should have been taken by the throat and thrown alone into the middle of the desert without food or water. Instead, the Legendary Sannin had just chuckled at him, leaving Sasuke to bristle in silent fury.

"There there, Sasuke-kun," he murmured, his voice coated with serpentine slime. It was a sound that Sasuke would either learn to tolerate or grow to hate. "Do not worry - I won't change my mind. But Naruto-kun..."

Naruto carried a Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, sealed somewhere deep within the depths of his body. Somehow, this concept had failed to occur to Sasuke in spite of how long they had known each other. How many times had he seen the red chakra born from nowhere take over Naruto's form? How often did the genin's wounds heal rapidly with no explaination, without even a scar to mark where the gash had been? The pile of evidence was massive, but the connection had never taken place. He had known Naruto most of his life, and the concept had never come up. He never really knew...

Naruto had been cheating. In every battle they fought either alongside or against each other, there was what could quite easily be an infinite amount of chakra lying stagnant inside Naruto. When their competitions ended at a close finish between them, Sasuke would train with the thought that Naruto might eventually be stronger than him. He would spend entire evenings practicing his chakra balance climbing trees and walking on water, all with the stubborn determination that he would never let Naruto surpass him. He had to stay on top.

Now he knew that every single night he stayed awake to throw shuriken at a poor unfortunate tree stump, Naruto had been sleeping soundly without a concern to be seen for miles. If one day - an event that Sasuke had always known would happen - a head to head battle between himself and Naruto finally occured, where the two of them were at their strongest and used all of their skill and effort... he knew now thanks to Orochimaru that he never could have won.

Sasuke would never admit it. If Naruto hadn't stopped fighting the day before, would Sasuke be back in Konoha right now? Trying not to consider the concept, Sasuke turned to Orochimaru more than ever. The man might be able to make him strong enough to stand a chance.

"Kabuto-kun..." Orochimaru murmured, his fingers raised and gesturing the traitor to him. "Bring the boy to me."

Kabuto approached from the doorway behind Sasuke, carrying Naruto in his arms. The genin watched in agony as the traitor of the Leaf bent slightly to lay Naruto across the sick man's lap. He had his new body now, but it was still rough over him and required some breaking-in. Sasuke watched the man with disgusted anticipation.

"Ahhh..." Orochimaru sighed, and he took a moment to remove Naruto's forehead-protector and let it fall to the floor before running a finger down along Naruto's round face. He took a moment to trace a thumb down one of his whisker-like scars before moving to unzip the collar of his jacket. "To have the Kyuubi in my grasp... this is fortunate."

Sasuke bristled with discomfort and stared at Naruto's fallen forehead-protector as Orochimaru took his time opening his rival's coat. Naruto was still unconcious, but it was questionable that he would be for very much longer - it had already been several hours since Sasuke had knocked him out in the woods outside of Sound country.

"Orochimaru-sama..." Kabuto spoke up politely. "Are you sure it would be a good idea to do this? You're still weak from the exchange."

Orochimaru hummed thoughtfully in response as he opened the jacket around Naruto's neck. "You are right," he murmured, causing Sasuke to relax temporarily; "but it's too risky to have him here, otherwise."

Sasuke had no idea what Orochimaru had been planning to do - he believed the actions of the Legendary Sannin would slowly become more predictable as their time went on, but he wasn't relieved by the notion somehow. He looked on in silent, watchful fury as Orochimaru ran his eyes over Naruto like he was tracing his form for memory as he ran his hand along the blonde's shoulder. He pulled Naruto's jacket further to make room as the snake leaned over to hope his mouth over the curve of Naruto's neck, sinking his teeth deep into the Leaf-genin's skin.

Both Naruto and Sasuke stiffened in unison, recieving an unreadable expression from the onlooking Kabuto. Naruto's muscles twitched slightly in an unconcious spasm of pain - clutching his fists and grinding his teeth - for less than a second before Orochimaru pulled slowly away, leaving a graceful line of blood from his teeth to fall against Naruto's naked shoulder. Sasuke's eyes widened when he realized-

"Kabuto-kun..." Orochimaru said, sitting up the best he could while bending with obvious fatigue. Kabuto stepped forward quickly to retrieve the blonde once again, raising the boy quite easily into his arms while Orochimaru sighed wearily. "Take Naruto-kun to his room."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama," Kabuto replied obediently while moving to exit the room.

"_Hey!_" Sasuke roared before allowing Orochimaru to believe that he might be okay with the situation. "Why is he still here! Didn't you say it was _me_ you wanted!" Kabuto and Orochimaru stared blankly at him, which didn't settle his unease at all. "...did you just give him a seal!"

Orochimaru met Kabuto's gaze long enough to nod faintly, and Kabuto caught the gesture and nodded low before leaving the room slowly in spite of the dirty looks Sasuke fixed him with as he passed. "We have a lot in common, don't we, Sasuke-kun?" The snake man drawled, placing an open hand against his face, leaving one finger to hang against his lip. "We want everything, you and I. We're selfish. However, I am well aware of the advantages of having the Kyuubi."

_Kyuubi..._ Sasuke snarled quietly. There was that name again...

"Silly Sasuke-kun... I won't replace you." Orochimaru moved his hand from his face to stretch it out to Sasuke, gesturing the boy closer. The Uchiha hesitated for a long time, and the Legendary Sannin didn't miss the conotations of that. His eyes narrowed and his smile widened, challenging Sasuke in his own way. Sasuke didn't want to lose to Naruto... and he would win in any way that he could. Conflicted for a moment, Sasuke only had to look up to stare into Orochimaru's eyes to remember the reason he had come in the first place.

_I will give you the strength to kill your brother._ No sounds came from his voice, but Sasuke could see the message clear enough in his eyes... and he believed that it was true.

Using his hands to push himself from his knees, Sasuke rose from the floor to cross to his new master's outreached hand. "Not to worry, Sasuke-kun," Orochimaru spoke as Sasuke approached him and reached awkwardly to the man's white palm. "Naruto-kun's chance of survival is very slim, but should he break the margin we will have his power at our whim. If it takes a lifetime, we will take him to our purpose together. We won't need the allies that your friends destroyed. We will have the Kyuubi."

Sasuke was calm as he watched Orochimaru's eyes as he spoke. Naruto _will_ survive, and no matter what happened, they would not be able to 'tame' him. Naruto would never be tamed. Sasuke was tempted to tell this to his new master, but he quickly decided that he would learn soon enough on his own. There were no words to describe what Naruto was.

* * *

Kabuto refused to feel guilty - that wasn't his place. He was ridden with a heavy feeling when he was faced with the people from Konoha. They were all familiar names and faces that he had seen from the inside once... but when Orochimaru gave the orders, Kabuto would do as he must. He would kill those who had once been his colleagues; just like Sasuke would learn to now.

However, as he carried Naruto down the familiar halls of Orochimaru's home as the boy's fever and breathing pace steadily rose, he felt a distinct rendition of pity. Naruto had taken everything that he had, rolled it up into an enthusiastic ball of devotion, and followed Sasuke all the way there of his own free will. As single-minded as ever, Naruto had put his lifelong goal, his friends and his own life on the line and he risked everything just to drag his friend home. Knowing Konoha, Kabuto decided that they would welcome Naruto back with open arms in spite of the traits they would call stupidity. Sasuke, on the other hand... Kabuto doubted strongly the two of them would ever make it back together, if they managed to escape at all.

By the time the medical ninja arrived at the designated room, Naruto had been beaten back into unconciousness by his fever. He twitched and groaned unconciously in his sleep, but Kabuto had seen the curse seal at work before and knew that this reaction was far from unusual. It would be like this for a day at the most - by then, the victims would either die or ease in and accept the curse. Kabuto knew that Naruto wouldn't be destroyed by this. When they had left Orochimaru and Sasuke in silence, the new apprentice had been conflicted. It might be interesting to see what influence Naruto's prescence would have on the situation; it was something neither of them had predicted.

Kabuto slid Naruto from his arms and onto the stiff bed at one side of the room and he considered for a moment what the Kyuubi's influence might mean in the lair of Orochimaru. Before it had been a slight concern, but now that Naruto was in their posession, it was guaranteed that the Akatsuki would try to seek them out eventually. Now they had no Sound-nin left to watch over them... they would have to trust Naruto to fend for himself.

The boy twitched in his sleep and snarled loudly at Kabuto as the Sound-nin draped a cold cloth against his forehead. Kabuto wasn't surprised by it, but he raised his eyes to stare at the boy as he growled and dug his nails into the stiff mattress beneath him. His chakra was almost visible, and Kabuto could actually feel the heat of it pouring off of the boy. Kabuto realized that he wouldn't be able to remove his jacket, lest he be ripped to shreds.

The med-nin walked around the front of the bed to reach Naruto's side in time for the blonde to toss his head violently. Kabuto caught the cloth mid-air and turned to dampen it again, having practically charred against Naruto's skin. Kabuto smirked as he ran the cold water, recognising the bitter distaste of the Kyuubi - furious she was being forced to make way for Orochimaru's curse seal. For a moment, he even entertained the thought that the Kyuubi might even be able to purge Naruto of it before it was given a chance to settle in.

Returning to Naruto's side, Kabuto peered to see the shape of the seal on Naruto's neck. It formed three straight lines pointing to one clear spot on Naruto's neck. As he looked, Kabuto placed the cloth back into position. "Interesting," he thought out loud. They looked like scratches.

Kabuto straightened and sighed, allowing his hands to fall against his hips as he stared down at the blonde. "You had better stay next to him, Naruto," he spoke to the uncooncious boy before snatching the cloth from his forehead and dampening it again. "That master of yours calls Orochimaru evil, but he never forces anyone to do things they refuse to do. You came walking right into our hands by following Sasuke here. You brought all of this down upon yourself." He placed the cloth against Naruto's forehead once more, watching the boy a few moments longer in silence. "I hope it was worth it, Naruto-kun."

* * *

No one was surprised when Naruto was fine. Sasuke would like to have been, but he wasn't. There was a feeling that arose in his stomach that he would never find the words to describe... more like several feelings all combined into one mix of unpleasantness. It made him uncomfortable.

"Very good," Orochimaru murmured, smiling his eerie little smile as he watched Kabuto in the doorway. "Get him something to eat when he wakes up and give him the biggest room in the dungeons - he's earned it."

Sasuke didn't move through the whole conversation. He simply continued to stare at his tea that he had been drinking with Orochimaru in the main chamber, willing himself not to care. He pictured Kabuto bowing behind him, silhouetted by the light of the doorway.

"Right away, Orochimaru-sama," he said loyally. Sasuke heard his sandals hit the ground rhythmically as he left.

"How is that, Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru asked, turning his attention to his new apprentice. "Aren't you happy? Now you have that friend of yours to keep you company."

Sasuke continued to stare through his tea. "No," he said as rudely as he dared.

"Hmmm..." Orochimaru's voice rolled in his throat. There was a long hesitation as if he might say something more regarding the subject, but to Sasuke's relief, he didn't.

One day; that was all. One day he had been there and now he was dressed in Orochimaru's clothes, living in Orochimaru's home, learning Orochimaru's ways... He would never admit that he found it strange. Awkward, even. The night before he found himself placed into a nice room with a stone floor covered with an extravagant rug. His blankets were thick and warm and there was plenty of space, but as he pulled the covers over himself, all he could breathe was the mildew. All he could feel was the chill of the room. As a ninja, he had been trained for versatility. He had spent hours still in more uncomfortable places and he had managed to camoflauge perfectly... but there was something unnerving about the fact that he would be there every day for the rest of his life.

...so he pulled the blankets over his head and pushed the cold away, ignoring his own discomfort. He would never admit to himself that something was wrong.

Nothing _was_ wrong.

* * *

Naruto wasn't happy.

He woke up on an uncomfortable bed in an uncomfortable position with a chill and aching all over. Fighting against his own body, he managed to well up the energy to sit up after a few tries, only to curl limply over his knees and clutch weakly at his head. "Ugh..." he groaned audibly, trying to will away his pain. He quickly became aware that all of his body parts were in tact, and he could faintly feel a shifting unease from somewhere indecipherable, only to realize after a moment of thought that it was coming from the Kyuubi.

Naruto's physical concern stopped for a moment as he reached down to rub absently at his stomach where the Nine-tail's seal was now visible. It was the first time Naruto had actually felt physically aware of his demon's prescence... and he wasn't quite sure what to think... except that he sensed she wasn't very happy with him.

_I know..._ he thought to her... but he couldn't begin to justify his actions.

Finally awake, the ache remained although it became more and more distant with each passing moment. With his chin on his knees, the blonde investigated the room with his eyes.

...it was a prison if he ever knew one.

He was sitting on an uncomfortable cot that was pressed to one side of the room and was hanging from the wall. The chains that pinned it there were rusty and covered with cobwebs, but they were still holding strong. Across the room was all he ever needed; a toilet and a sink with a towel hanging onto it.It was yellowed with age, but clean. When Naruto turned, he noticed that there was also a smaller cloth on the floor. Turning, he kicked his feet over the edge of the bed and sat naturally, but his head spun with the motion, and he was forced to hesitate. Gazing down at the cloth, he decided he would rather avoid moving more than he had to and he managed - with little difficulty - to pick it up with his toe. His shoes and jacket had been strewn across the room - most likely by him in his sleep.

One end of the room had an opening... it was a cage with thick metal bars that were connected too tightly for him to be able to squeeze through. There was nothing but a stone wall ahead of him, and it appeared that the hall extended either way, one direction which allowed in a pale gray light for him to see by, but it did little more than add shine to the moist rocks of his prison. Staring at the door of the bars that kept him in, Naruto estimated that he might be able to position a shadow clone outside to pick a lock, or go find a key...

...he just couldn't find the energy to do it.

Naruto fell helplessly back against the hard pillow of his cot with a hopeless sigh. There was no point in trying to escape, anyway... He knew where he probably was... and he knew why he was there. In spite of having slept for who knows how long, he was scraping the bottom of his chakra well without having done much ot anything, and he imagined that was why the Kyuubi was so uneasy.

Rolling onto his back, Naruto busied his anxious mind by brushing away the empty cobwebs from the hanging cot that spiders long dead had left behind.

What happened when he was asleep? The blonde considered silently, running his tongue along his teeth as his uneasy somach remembered how to be hungry. What was happening now?

"I want ramen," Naruto groaned for the sake of hearing his own voice, only to be shocked to discover how weak it sounded. He'd never heard himself sound that way before - and he was the one to talk until his voice broke... to himself, even. It was lonely when you had no company, and silence wasn't good enough. You learn when to stop before anyone can hear you.

He sighed, dropping his hands to his stomach. He had to get out... What else could he do?

Nothing.

With a pathetic whimper, Naruto ran a hand down across his face before running his hands up into his dusty hair where he scratched at his scalp sleepily. Although aware of where he was, he knew he could be down there for days before anyone came to get him.

...and he would conserve his energy and make a break for it, and he would drag Sasuke out along with him!

The blonde sighed and ran his hands down the back of his head and his palms over his ears until his hands folded casually behind his neck.

He would plot his escape until then...

He sat in stillness and silence for what felt like a long time while his stomach distracted him with noises. Impatient with himself as well as the still unsettled Kyuubi, he shifted his weight to find a more comfortable position on the uncomfortable bed, and he felt a dull ache at the base of his neck. With something he would have called a sigh - but would have sounded to anyone else like a whimper - he reached back and pressed a pair of fingers to the spot.

"A bruise..." he concluded, running his fingers over it to feel the sensitive flesh. His eyes open, he stared off into space as he thought of a significant bruise Sasuke had in the same place as his; something Sakura had mentioned he recieved from -

"Oh, shit..."


	4. The Garden

**Vie**

It's kinda funny. I went to look at the comments on Vie, and I realized that it's been a freaking _month_ since my last update! So last night I sat down, turned on my playlist and wrote like hell. The problem is that... last week or so, I sat down and wrote about 1000 words of what I thought was going to be Chapter 4, but then I thought about the timeline and realized that it had to go into Chapter 5. So, obviously, that one won't take very long... but Chapter 5 is going to be a very long chapter.

Sorry it took so long to update, you guys! I love you all, and I appreciate all of your comments! Keep them coming!

Chapter 4: The Garden

Naruto was beginning to learn what every other prisoner had ever felt in jail or captured in war. However, compared to many of them, he himself had been thrown into a dark cold room alone without anyone to keep him company. Instead, he had nothing to deal with but his thoughts. He spent an entire evening thinking of how hungry he was and what he could possibly do in his position. It was almost as if he kept forgetting he had already gone too far and couldn't possibly go back. He had gone that far for Sasuke, it was pointless to go back without him.

"Good morning, Naruto-kun," Kabuto welcomed him to conciousness the next morning after he had fallen asleep hungry. The traitor welcomed him warmly, but Naruto discovered he held no forgiveness for him as he sat up on his cot, cracking his neck and stretching in place, all the while glaring at the gray-haired man on the other side of his prison. "I hope you aren't too mad at me. We'll be spending a lot of time together from now on, after all," he said as he fiddled pointlessly with the lock on the bars.

"Don't talk to me like I'm your friend!" Naruto growled viciously as if it made a difference while his hand moved to press against the bruise on his neck," ...because I'm not! I didn't come here to-"

"I know," Kabuto inturrupted quietly, the gray light hitting his glasses at a certain angle and illuminating the glass, hiding his eyes. Holding onto the lock after hesitating a moment, he looked back up at Naruto. "Would you come here, please?"

"No!" The blonde barked his reply, shuffling down to the farther end of the cot. "What are you doing?"

"Opening the door," Kabuto said. "But I'll need you to come over here, first, before I let you out."

"Why?" Naruto scoffed, averting his eyes, his hands remaining on his curse seal. "Are you gonna chain me up or something?"

Kabuto remained silent for a moment. "Safety precautions are necessary," he said simply. In other words, _yes._

Naruto sat in silence for a long time, staring down at the floor. It seemed as if everything that he had gone through after discovering he held the Kyuubi had been leading up to something like this. In Konoha, he was sure that there were more than just a few residents who desired nothing more than to throw him away somewhere dark and cold where they could lock him up and keep him from being a threat to anyone. In that way, he would be alone, unable to talk to anyone or bother anyone. It was a thought he had nightmares over, but refused to let himself think about. Now he wondered if there were people in Konoha that were happy he was gone.

"Naruto-kun," Kabuto broke the silence suddenly as he spoke from the other side of the bars. "I would like to remind you that you cannot blame us for your prescence here. You followed Sasuke of your own free will."

"I know that!" Naruto snapped, looking over his shoulder to shoot another glare at Kabuto, but from the medical-ninja's point of view, the intended wicked look appeared to be no more than a defeated pout. "...but I never asked for _this_!"

Kabuto realized immediately that he was talking about the curse seal. "That itself is another safety precaution, as well as a gift from Orochimaru-sama himself. However, I am aware you aren't here to help _us_, you are still here on _his_ behalf, and he is here on ours. One begets the other, and you will end up exacting Orochimaru-sama's will." He glanced down at his hand, clutching the lock. "It would just make things less difficult for everyone if you could just follow our orders willingly."

Naruto couldn't see Sasuke taking orders from anyone, especially not Orochimaru. He took instruction from Kakashi and the Hokage because they were his teachers and had his respect. Orochimaru...

Naruto glared skeptically at the floor for a very long time. He had ran away from his home, all the way here for the sake of making Orochimaru his teacher after all. What would be the point of going to Orochimaru if he wasn't planning on following his orders? Naruto sighed mentally, narrowing his eyes. It seemed that everything Sasuke had done in the recent past had been things Naruto never would have believed his companion would have done, but here they were. He had proved Naruto wrong several times already.

Maybe he really didn't understand Sasuke, after all.

Naruto didn't realize he had left his guard down until he actually felt Kabuto grab his wrist with one hand, throwing the boy off-balance as he pushed him forward and made him tumble off of the cot and onto his feet. The medical-ninja then reached out and stabbed at a pressure point on Naruto's shoulder with a pair of fingers, therefore cutting off his chakra flow completely.

Barking a yelp more out of alarm than pain, Naruto swung on his poor balance to throw a punch at Kabuto only to miss completely before gravity dragged him to the floor, but with the traitor hanging onto his wrist, the blonde couldn't fall and instead hung, slipping in an unbalanced position. "Damn it!" He swore. Kabuto couldn't help but smirk at the scene as Naruto climbed, growling, back to his feet. "What's so funny?" The blonde snapped.

"You haven't changed at all, Naruto-kun," Kabuto replied simply, doing as little as possible to help the genin, reaching to take Naruto's left hand as well.

"Stay away from me!" The blonde shouted, throwing his left hand away from Kabuto's grasp while twisting his right wrist viciously. To make matters worse, he darted back and started pulling as hard as he could towards the back wall.

Kabuto decided instead to focus on keeping Naruto's wrist in his hand, and the medical-ninja reached for something in his pocket, quickly clasping one end on a set of handcuffs around the hand he already held. The blonde growled a noise of protest as the metal cut into his skin when he pulled against it.

"I am well aware of your healing abilities. I familiarized myself with them when you first came here," Kabuto said, his hold now firm on Naruto's write hand as the genin continued to struggle anyway. "That doesn't mean the cuts you're causing yourself aren't going to hurt, not to mention that right now, I have cut off your chakra flow completely. There is no way for you to heal yourself. You're only hurting yourself right now, Naruto-kun. I would prefer you be in good shape for us to go see Orochimaru-sama."

"What would that snake-freak want with me, anyway!" Trying a different approach, Naruto kicked at Kabuto only to have the other ninja grab his foot and leave the blonde hopping clumsily on one foot.

"You will have to find that out when you get there," Kabuto said. He wasn't strained over the struggle that was ensuing, but he released a sigh of irritation at Naruto's complete lack of cooperation. Instead, he just made sure that Naruto was paying attention to him and made a gesture suggesting he could just as easily lock his ankle to his wrist with the handcuffs. "I could take you to him this way, if you like."

"Let go of me!" The blonde shouted, kicking up at him with his remaining foot.

Kabuto leaned back and used Naruto's momentum to his advantage, tossing the food he had been holding up into the air, causing Naruto to go back into an unexpected flip. He yelped in surprise, but managed to land, teetering, on his feet. Having been left with his guard down again, Kabuto snatched Naruto's left hand out of the air before he could use it to balance himself, and locked it firmly into the other cuff.

"Good," Kabuto murmured, choosing rather than to bother hiding his relief. Naruto let out a furious shriek as he pulled the cuffs away from each other, attempting to break the chain. "Don't bother, Naruto-kun. The chain is infused with chakra. There is no way you will be able to break it using force alone."

Naruto glared daggers at the traitor as Kabuto took the chain in hand, leading the blonde from his prison. "I'll never forgive this..." the boy hissed.

Kabuto nodded. "I know."

* * *

"Do you hate me, Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru asked, stating the question as if he was asking about the weather as he drank the last of the tea in his cup and stared into it's depths afterwards, studying the leaves. 

"After all of this?" Naruto scoffed as rudely as possible as he watched the Sannin closely. "How couldn't I?" This man was more than just his captor. He was Sasuke's new master and the Pervert-Hermit's old friend... but Naruto wasn't usually very good at seeing the multiple layers of a person's personality. Sasuke left the village for the sake of growing stronger with the help of this man. This man who had once been his teacher's friend, hurting him and leaving Jiraiya behind. This man started the war between the Sound and the Leaf because of a grudge, and he had killed the Hokage and dared to sit confidently in front of Naruto without bearing a scratch. He _must_ be evil.

Orochimaru just chuckled softly at Naruto's reply, holding out his cup and watching as Kabuto refilled it for him again. "I can't honestly say I'm surprised. I'm sure I would hate me too, if I were in your position... but that gives you no reason to deny my hospitality. You've been unconcious for several days. I'm sure you're very hungry."

Naruto just glared at him, eyes burning and teeth clenched. He couldn't allow himself to look down at the food that sat in front of him. It smelled delicious... it wasn't ramen, but his hands were free and he was _starving_, but...

"I'll be very upset if you accuse me of trying to poison you," Orochimaru inturrupted his thoughts. "Try to understand for a moment that I would have no reason to do such a thing, or to even desire your death whatsoever. You, my boy, are my trump card. You hold the Kyuubi. By not eating, you are only forcing yourself to become weaker, which is not my intent. I want my... servants... to be strong and happy." He blew gently against his steaming tea and took a small sip. Naruto shuddered in disgust at how easily he could be so _human_... after killing so many people and proving himself a monster. "Tell me, Naruto-kun... what is there I could do to make you happy?"

Naruto growled quietly for a very long time. He tried to consider the thought as he seethed in the Sannin's prescence. After everything that had happened, what could he do to actually make a difference and change things? Was it too late already? What could Naruto himself do to bring things back to normal? "You could... let Sasuke go home..." he dared to suggest.

Orochimaru smiled his sick little smile, chuckling from the back of his throat as he narrowed his eyes at the boy, their gazes locking. "You and I are both perfectly aware that he came to be here, in my Garden, and learn under me. This was his decision, Naruto-kun. I knew it was going to end this way. He can never go back to the village now." Naruto opened his mouth to interject with something that had yet to reach his mind when Orochimaru continued. "If he wishes to leave, he may go. My servants must be loyal. If he managed to slip through my fingers, I would be sincerely impressed... but I would continue to hunt him down until the day I died, which is not likely to be soon." He smiled wryly into his tea, leaving Naruto to consider for a moment Orochimaru's method of immortality. "I _will_ have his body, just as he desires my power. And you, my boy, will do my will as his servant."

_Servant_. Naruto could only cough on the word. Just because he tried to bring Sasuke home, that made him his _servant_?

Orochimaru didn't speak for a long moment, giving him a chance to slowly lower his cup down to the small table that sat between them. The room appeared to be Orochimaru's main chamber, decorated with wide space and high ceilings. Everything everywhere had been dark, save for several torches that burned nearby, situated around the area of the room that was currently being used. Although Naruto's hands were not bound at the moment, he was held in place by a chain attached to his ankle, and his chakra remained sealed. Watching Orochimaru's hands hover at the table, Naruto's eyes chose to fall to the food that had been growing cold in front of him, and he stared long and hard at it.

"There is one thing, Naruto-kun, that you must always remember while you arehere," Orochimaru spoke again, causing Naruto's challenging eyes to shoot back to the man's face. "This situation was all you. Sasuke-kun told me everything that happened, and I know that you followed him here. You cannot blame him or me or Kabuto for where you are. This was _you_. I want you to always remember that. There is no one for you to blame."

"I know," Naruto grumbled bitterly, quickly brushing off the reminded guilt he was already having to suffer from. "Where is Sasuke?"

Orochimaru made a noise that almost sounded like a laugh in the back of his throat, but the snide smile that crossed his lips told Naruto that it hadn't been an amusing experience. "Sasuke-kun is currently getting to know my Garden, as well as myself and the few other residents that live here. He chose rather than to dine with me this morning."

"So you dragged me up here?" Naruto hissed, quirking an eyebrow. That was just... the blonde couldn't retain his wicked glee at the concept. "You were snubbed by Sasuke!"

Kabuto was too busy staring a hole through Naruto to see the undecipherable look that Orochimaru gave him.

"After all of that loyalty crap, your own student won't even sit down to eat with you?" Naruto placed one hand on each knee as he learned toward Orochimaru, over the table while his eyes narrowed into playful slits. "You must be a pretty shitty bad-guy if you can't even beat your followers into line! So instead you chain me to the floor and make _me_ listen to you? That's pretty sad, you know, if you can't keep someone here of their own free will. What about this guy?" Naruto pointed up at Kabuto. "Are you too busy having him wait on you hand-and-foot to actually let him sit down and eat with you?"

Kabuto wasn't one to get angry often, but Naruto was crossing the line, and he stepped forward threateningly. "Don't speak that way in front of Orochimaru-sama!"

...but the two of them turned to discover Orochimaru simply laughing, slimy slugs of sound oozing from his throat, and Naruto was half expecting something to come sliding out of his open mouth. "You've got such spirit, Naruto-kun," he chided with amusement when he was done. "I'll enjoy seeing how long you can hold onto it."

_I just don't know what to expect about anything here,_ Naruto thought silently as he was led by Kabuto holding on to the chain binding his wrists again. Not a word between them had been spoken since they left Orochimaru's main chamber, but Kabuto didn't seem particularly pleased with the way Naruto had spoken to his master. _He'd better get used to it_, the blonde sneered.

* * *

There wasn't much to Orochimaru's 'Garden', he realized now that he had been given an opprotunity to see the rest of it. His eyes wandered as Kabuto steered him along to an unknown destination, but all he could see were blank stone walls and long dark hallways. The width of the halls occassionally changed, forcing them to creep along sideways at some points. Naruto took note that it had probably been built this way to make things difficult for any unwanted ninja. There weren't any obvious traps, but he took note when Kabuto pulled him along one side of a particularly wide hallway. He knew they probably existed. 

Eventually, they reached a tight and narrow spiral staircase that Kabuto suddenly decided to speed up in. It was hard enough for the blonde walk with his hands restricting his hands regardless, but with the short stairs and the frantic pace, he slipped several times, expecting to roll backwards along the stairs only to be led along again by Kabuto's grasp.

When they reached the top, Narutp discovered himself closing his eyes against the almost painful daylight. When he was finally able to open them again, blinking welcomingly to the outdoors, he realized how much he had missed it. He welcomed the false sense of freedom as he took a deep breath to savour the air.

"Do you recognize where you are?" Kabuto asked.

Surveying the area, Naruto could only see hills of trees and mountains close by. There was nothing but that deep green and blue sky for miles... but it was unfamiliar. The trees weren't the same ones that he knew. They were definately nowhere near Konoha. The air was colder than it would be in Konoha. "No," he answered honestly, turning to see that the stairway they had just emerged from was perfectly disguised as a small hole in a cliff. Orochimaru's entire Garden was situated underground, where everyone would think it would be but no one would know where to begin looking.

"Good," Kabuto said, moving on. "Are you ready for your mission?"

"No," Naruto scoffed bitterly. "I have no reason to do what you tell me to."

"You will," Kabuto responded mysteriously, failing to meet the genin's eyes. "While you and Orochimaru were dining, four of our prisoners escaped."

"What?" Naruto inquired sharply, tilting his head. "How would you know! You were there the whole time!"

Kabuto chose to ignore the logic and, instead, turned back to the boy and sharply jabbed a new spot on his neck. The blonde flinched visibly. "Your mission is to go out there, hunt them all down and kill them, using whatever means necessary." Kabuto paused to unlock Naruto's handcuffs, leaving the Leaf-nin free, but cautiously staring up at him while rubbing sorely at his wrists. He could sense that Kabuto had released the lock on his chakra as well. He could feel the power of it rippling warmly back through him.

"I could kill you right now and go," Naruto growled lowly.

"You could," Kabuto admitted. "But let me inform you, Naruto-kun, that you now have a curse seal, which will go out of control and take over your body should you use enough chakra, and the point I just pressed not only unlocked the block I placed on your chakra - I left it open. Your chakra will continue spilling out until you kill those men and come back with me. Now, if you went ahead and killed me, there would be nowhere to go with anyone as skilled in the healing arts to fix you. You would run out of chakra, and running out is also as good as dying, and dying is the first step to accepting Orochimaru-sama into your body. Do you understand?

Naruto nodded slowly. Kabuto could see it on his face - an expression of fury mixed with shock as he clenched his teeth and his hand around his wrist. Now Naruto really knew what Sasuke had brought him into. He wasn't good with ultamadems.

"I... I don't want to kill people!" He shouted. "They didn't do anything to me!"

"Judging by your chakra release and taking into account the bonus allowed by the Kyuubi, I would give you about 3-5 hours before depletion," Kabuto stated, taking note as Naruto shivvered in the sunlight. "They have been gone for almost an hour now, at most. They were all rather skilled ninja, and they might be several miles from here already, and depending on whether or not they chose to split up, it could take a very long time to find them all."

"I know that!" Naruto snapped, remaining where he stood, but trembling with anger and fear.

"You can't hesitate, Naruto."

It took several long moments before Naruto really realized that there was nothing he could do to free himself from the situation. He had no idea where he was... and he knew roughly which direction Konoha might be, but... That wasn't good enough. What if he didn't make it? It would be a strain anyway, and not only would he end up dead, he would have left Sasuke behind.

_...I refuse to leave without Sasuke!_

Taking a deep breath and balling his courage, Naruto's eyes shot up and the boy bounded over to Kabuto in time to deliver the older man a swift and powerful punch in the face before running as fast as his legs would carry him off into the forest.

* * *

He had spent several days exploring aimlessly the place that Orochimaru had called 'The Garden'. It was an interesting simile, considering that it was made up of dark, empty stone corridors and less empty roms. No matter where Sasuke went, everything was just as cold as it was anywhere else in the Garden. His grandmother used to keep a garden when she had been alive... but it became a very different place when Itachi was through with the family, after he ripped the old woman wide open in her bed. Sasuke didn't have the heart to take care of it himself, so he watched the garden die. It was just a tiny regret in the sea. He hadn't really thought about it before. 

Turning a corner, Sasuke gazed down the long, dark hallway and took a sharp breath before slipping back into the shadows and out of sight.

Sasuke had seen Naruto once since they arrived, when Sasuke found his way to the dungeons and looked inside to see a familiar orange jacket laying on the floor and a lonely head of blonde hair sleeping on a cot. Since then, Sasuke chose not to go back there. But now, Naruto was up and concious, and the traitor watched in absolute silence as his old friend stumbled by, led by a pair of handcuffs. Although he was dirty and quite obviously exhausted, the blonde walked as straight as he could to keep up his pride and deny Orochimaru the opprotunity to get to him. With blood covering his hands and splatters of it over his chest and face, he stared a hole through Kabuto's shhoulder as he continued to pry uselessly at the cuffs that bound him. His eyes were still bright and wide, his brow was furrowed in what Sasuke had come to recognize as the angry face Naruto made when he was trying to drown out some other emotion he didn't want. And, as suddenly as he had come, the boy vanished behind the next wall.

Sasuke released the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. The one thing that Orochimaru had asked of him that day was to release four of his prisoners, and Sasuke had done so at random, in silence while the released men tried to talk to him, ask him if he was giving them mercy... but Sasuke couldn't lie, and simply walked away. He finally realized that he had been ordered to set them free just so Naruto could kill them all.

_You total moron_. Sasuke sighed, shaking his head. _This is your punishment for following me._


	5. Warriors

Ahhh... it's been far too long since my last update, but it took me sooo loong to finish this chapter, just because I propose the demon storyline in this one. I've been struggling to do research on the entire story that Kishimoto-sensei based Naruto off of, and as a result I probably ruined the entire thing for myself... but don't worry! I know exactly how this fic is going to end, and I won't be ruining anything for you guys.

I'm celebrating the release of my fifth chapter with a great big THANK YOU to those of you who are reading it! Don't worry, I promise it will pick up. I also promise I will never abandon this project. Mind you, it will definately take me a while because this is a mother of a fic, but I plan on finishing it regardless. Thanks for everyone's reviews and encouragement, and to the C2s that I discovered myself a part of this morning! I love hearing where you guys think the story is going to go, because you just give me more ideas of what I could possibly add in. I hope you don't mind hearing a lot about the rest of Konoha, because they aren't going away. Quite the contrary, actually! I hope you all like where it's going!

Keep in mind this chapter was rushed at the end just because I wanted to keep going. I'll fix it someday.

**Warriors**

It was dark and cold outside when Tenten was ordered to go on a mission to the Hidden Mist. Her hair dampened with the rain that couldn't decide whether or not to fall, she nodded obediently to Tsunade as the Godaime sighed and shuffled through her papers to look for other chuunin that weren't preoccupied.

She had been promoted half a year before, when she had been on a D-rank mission. Team Gai had wandered slightly off course while they had been traveling and were ambushed by a group of missing-nin, thus shooting the classification up to A. There was no way to know what they had been doing, where they had come from or where they had gone, but when Gai and Lee ended up severely injured it was up to Neji to divert the enemy while Tenten performed some emergency first-aid, and the two of them struggled to distract the ninja and managed to get away. Neji ran back to the village while Tenten protected them from the lurking ninjas and provided a good distraction until Neji got back two days later with Kurenai, Anko and what remained of Team 8 in tow. While the jounin and genin went to find the lurking missing nin, Neji took over watching Gai and Lee as Tenten followed the reinforcements. Although the missing nin weren't captured, they were scared off, and several medical-nin showed up in the scene shortly after, and all of them returned to Konoha together. Gai and Lee were concious and apologizing before they even arrived, and when they did Tsunade stood in the doorway waiting for them with a relieved look on her face.

Neither of them believed her right away when she told them they had been deemed worthy of chuunin status from their display of expertise in an emergency. It had taken Tenten until the award ceremony to realize what it all meant as she looked to her side to discover the faint traces of a smile on Neji's face. Her own vanished as she stared at him, realizing with dismay that he hadn't forgotten.

_Of course he wouldn't forget_, she scolded herself mentally as she turned back to face Tsunade as she gave her speech of rebirth to Konoha. When she approached them to give them their official titles, Tsunade shook her hand and told Tenten she was eager to have her assistance, and Tenten thanked her politely. When she turned to Neji, all she said was "good luck".

Lee had been better about expressing his distaste about his becoming a chuunin as he pouted and crossed his arms in Neji's direction. "This doesn't mean you're any stronger than me!" he cried. Neji's facial expression hadn't changed at all since the ceremony. "You better not save Naruto before I do!"

Naruto... Tenten felt as if she was losing her team to Naruto. She couldn't shake her head and pretend she didn't care about the blonde's safe return - his disappearance affected everyone. She had seen it happen and she didn't understand because she didn't know him the way everyone else had. Instead, she watched as Lee declared his loyalty to bringing him home and as Neji's training became more reserved and more violent. She wanted to be a chuunin with _them_ by her side. It wouldn't be the same with anyone else.

And when Neji left to join up with the Legendary Sannin Jiraiya, Lee saw him off with some tears and a nice-guy pose to end all nice-guy poses while Gai handed him a scroll for extra training and gave him the hug he had never dared to before. Neji smiled the best he could for them while still looking awkward and he turned to Tenten.

"Good luck, Neji." Was all she found herself able to say.

"Thank you," was the last thing he said to her before he left.

While Gai and Lee beside her cried into each other's arms, Tenten simply watched him go as she felt one-fourth of her fall away to serve some other purpose. They weren't 'Team Gai' anymore.

It didn't hurt as much when Lee left a few months later. He wasn't a chuunin yet, so he wasn't going to look for Naruto. Instead, he had been stationed in the Hidden Sand after requesting too many missions there. She wasn't surprised when he cried a lot when he left, but the second he escaped the doors of the village, she noticed an extra bounce to his step. While he left them behind, he was finding himself a new world to explore. Tenten just watched while feeling slightly jealous, wondering whether or not they would be more happy where they were while accomplishing a goal than they would be at home where they were a part of something.

From that point on, Gai had insisted on participating in every operation Tenten ever operated in until this one, when Tsunade deliberately sent him away on a pointless errand to a village nearby. Tenten wasn't sure if she was supposed to be thankful or not, so she said nothing.

"Hinata?" Tsunade spoke up, glancing across the room to where her apprentice was standing next to the door.

"Ahh... yes, Tsunade-sama?" The Hyuuga girl answered obediently.

"I would like you to go on this mission with Tenten. It would be a good chance to show us what you've learned. I'll send Shizune with you so she can judge your progress."

"Oh... yes, Tsunade-sama... Thank you..." Hinata bowed. Tenten spared her a glance over her shoulder. She had never been told exactly why the girl had insisted to be trained by Tsunade, but she had a hunch it may have had something to do with Naruto as well.

"And..." Tsunade sighed as she continued flipping through her books with her chin resting on her hand. "I think you should take Shino with you as well. Tenten, you'll be leading the mission."

"Yes, Godaime-sama," Tenten answered obediently.

"Please, Tenten. Call me Tsunade," the Hokage said, giving her an exasperated look.

"If you wish, Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade sighed. "Good enough, I suppose. I expect you to be gone by the afternoon - it shouldn't take you too long to get to Mist country. A second party will be right behind you. I just need to organize it for this evening. You may leave now - you too, Hinata. Rest up."

"Yes, Tsunade-sama," the girls said together, bowing in unison before turning to leave.

As they turned to leave, Tenten hesitated to wait for the other girl as they exited into the hallway. "How have you been, Hinata-chan?" Tenten asked, making timid conversation as they walked down the hallway side-by-side.

"Ahhh..." Hinata sighed, sparing a brief glance to Tenten's face in order to look polite. She had spent a year under the tutelage of the most powerful woman in the village, and still Hinata couldn't look her in the eye. "I've been... good..."

"That's good," Tenten said confidently. "You aren't working yourself too hard, are you?"

Hinata nodded slowly. "It doesn't matter. I'm learning to save people."

Tenten smiled inwardly. At least the girl was somewhat confident in her skills. The chuunin could see that they might be able to make a good team. "Go get packed and ready, Hinata-chan. I'll find Shizune, and you can go track down Shino. Tell them to meet us at the gates in 30 minutes, okay?"

"Yes," Hinata said firmly, throwing another gaze to Tenten's face momentarily before turning down another hallway to what Tenten was forced to believe led to Aburame Shino. Shrugging it off, she continued on her way while wondering how the Hyuuga clan felt about their heir choosing to become a medical-ninja, and their prodigy child leaving the village to search for a friend. Tenten half expected the girl to end up joining the search for Naruto as well.

_She's still training_, Tenten made a mental note as she strolled alone down an empty hallway. _It's not fair to her to make assumptions.

* * *

_

Tenten's travel preparations took very little time after locating and informing Shizune. Just as with everything else, they had actually been given pointers on what to pack for missions back in the ninja academy. Tenten took purely the necessities and, deciding that two medical-ninjas would be perfectly responsible, she didn't even need to pack her safety kit.

She changed into a more suitable outfit, her chuunin vest hugging comfortably on her shoulders. She shifted it, remembering how cumbersome it had originally seemed. Now it held anything she needed.

Her hair up in traditional buns and her pockets and pouches bulging with weapons and scrolls, Tenten deemed herself prepared and went to meet her party.

Had she been a more superstitious person, she might have said it was an omen to be leaving on a mysterious mission on a day like this. The sky was gray and the air was wet from a rain that had just ceased. People hung inside their houses as much as they could, leaving the usually bustling streets of Konoha unnervingly quiet.

The mission was irritatingly vague. Tsunade had sent a small group of ninja to the Village of Mist in order to reinforce friendly relations after the accident with the Sand and Sound. Things had been going well until communications suddenly ceased. After the incident that Team 7 had been involved in while they were there, Tsunade decided it was an urgent matter in spite of the fact it had only been a day, and sent Tenten and the others to investigate. It was suspicious, and gave all the implication that Tenten should have been far more concerned than she actually was. However, the weapon-expert had discovered she was becoming less concerned with her missions. She over-estimated them in the beginning, and found herself increasingly disappointed every single time. So she stopped expecting anything, concluding that the unexpected would be unexpected, and to expect something was just going to lead her to be caught off-guard more by the unexpected if she hadn't actually expected anything at all.

However, she _wasn't_ surprised to discover the entire journey to be unreasonably silent.

Shino and Hinata had been team members and still kept in touch, but they discovered quickly that they had relied heavily on Kiba to make conversation between them, and after they shortly caught up with one another, the two of them stopped speaking and the journey ebbed into what would become a permanant silence. Shizune was only familiar with Hinata, and Tenten could tell that they didn't have much more than an aquainted relationship. Tsunade had the girl running around a lot, after all. Tenten was actually surprised she had been present to join the mission.

It was a long and boring journey. It took them several disturbingly quiet days to reach Mist country, and another day to find themselves at the Great Naruto Bridge.

"The Great... Naruto... Bridge..." Hinata repeated airily.

"...Naruto...?" Shino mumbled behind his jacket collar.

"Uh-huh," Shizune sighed. "The one and only."

Tenten never knew the boy well, so she chose to retain her snappy comments. "This bridge will take us straight to the Hidden Mist Village," she stated instead, uncertain on what else she should say to get her team moving.

They nodded, still staring at the name at the gate of the bridge before following after her as she led their way through the morning fog.

Although she hadn't acknowledged it to the rest of her party, seeing as she assumed it was obvious - they hadn't yet encountered any human life. Yet at the same time, they had not yet discovered any signs of struggle. Walking ahead of the group, Tenten stopped to consider their options. Obviously, they had no choice but to continue into the village, but they would have to be extremely cautious. Tenten was sure there were supposed to be several guards posted on the bridge.

She then turned to announce the decision to her group "I think we should-"

Caught completely by surprise, Tenten could do nothing but open her arms and catch Shizune as the girl flew into her, and the two of them fell back and rolled several more feet. The impact knocked the air out of her lungs, and the chuunin hesitated for a long moment to recover while Shizune shook off the stun of whatever it had been that threw her. "Are you alright?" Tenten asked, as soon as she was able to find her voice.

"Yes." Shizune answered quickly, averting her eyes as if embarassed to having been saved by an underclassman. "But... what in the world _was_ that?"

The two of them gazed up simultaneously to gaze far across the bridge to where Hinata had adopted an offensive stance, her Byakugan activated - but a confused expression on her face. Shino stood several meters away with his hands in his pockets, but Tenten had faith that the man hadn't let his guard down. Tenten met his hidden gaze as he looked to them with concern. She nodded, and he turned his eyes back to the crisis at hand.

Closer to Hinata than any other of the team, there stood a monster. It looked as if it may have been made with water except it misted in smoky white, it's form almost transparent. A person was visible inside of the creature, floating still in the center. Around him, the water seemed to take the shape of a tall, white dog, standing at least nine feet tall and with five long streams of water whipping around restlessly in the shape of tails, each non-coporeal appendage coloured in a different way, creating a modest rainbow around him.

"Bijuu..." Shizune hissed with disbelief.

"What?" The demon slurred, it's voice blowing towards them like an echo as it adressed Hinata. "What's wrong, girl? Can't you see me with those eyes?" Cackling, the demon slid onto his front legs and pounced forward. Even through it's own body, Tenten could see it's claws alone solidify into ice.

"Hinata!" Tenten heard herself cry.

Blind, Hinata leapt back as best as she could our of instinct, assisted by Shino who ran and grabbed her by the waist to pull her further away. The demon splattered on the ground as it landed onto nothing, leaving the person who had been inside to fall limply to the ground. They all watched in surprise as the water itself grabbed the person's arm, raised him into the air only to form the canine around the man once again.

"How did it come up on us so quickly?" Shizune asked, her voice shaking.

Tenten had no idea what she was dealing with. "Can you stand?" She asked the older woman.

"Yes..." Shizune answered, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Good." Tenten said, rising to her feet and helping the girl up. "But that isn't good enough. Can you run?"

Shizune turned to Tenten. "...Yes."

"Alright." Taking the chance, the chuunin ran towards the demon, and it turned to face her.

"Ahhh, someone's eager to die, hmmm?" The bijuu churred. Somehow, it's face was well defined, the dim light of the cloudy sky defining the contours of its eyes, nose and mouth. "It's been a very, veeerrryyy long time since I've been able to taste blood..." It ran into a low chuckle as it stretched and flexed it's large, transparent paws. "I'm enjoying every single minute of this."

It was a man who hung inside the body of the demon - a boy, really. His arms were stretched to be the demon's arms, his head down and his eyes closed. However, there was something about the way his body didn't sag that told Tenten that the man certainly was not unconcious. He simply seemed to have been taken over by the beast... and judging by the attitude - he was taken completely. He trembled slightly, as if the pressure of the monster was causing him pain.

"Are you so dishonourable that you come upon us without warning?" Tenten dared as she glared at the demon. She would have liked to say she was ready. She would have liked to say she was fine... but she spoke for the sake of drowning out the sound of her pounding heart.

"Are you saying ninja have honour?" The creature seemed to chuckle, "don't make me laugh. You have no idea what you're up against, little girl."

Tenten's eyes narrowed. "No, I don't. But that doesn't mean I'm not going to try." Her fingers itched with an instinctive need to cling to the weapons that lay several inches from her grasp. Simple practice would bring them into her hands in less than half a second, and flying through the air in about the same amount of time.

"You're brave," it churred, arching it's back and spreading its tails. "But you'll need more than that to defeat the god of illusion."

The beasts' blue tail whipped around, causing Tenten to jump into action, sending several kunai flying in the monster's direction. Almost second-naturedly, the bijuu hopped to the side, and a roar filled their ears.

"What is _that_?" Shizune asked, having departed to the other end of the bridge.

It was a noise Tenten would instinctively brushed off as the wind between the trees if she hadn't known better. It was too loud, and there were no trees. It was water - it had to be water... and it was coming in their direction. Tenten worked overtime, pulling out scroll after scroll and throwing handfuls of kunai at a time at the beast who flipped and slid around the attacks. "RUN AWAY!" She shouted to them. "Get off the bridge!"

It was then that Shizune caught on to the same fact that Tenten had and looked about frantically. The bridge was gigantic and they had come quite far, not to mention the fog hid from them exactly how far they had to go. Instead, Hinata looked on as Shizune hit a series of hand-gestures while Shino ran ahead to assist Tenten in her struggle. A thin rope of chakra emerged from the base of Shizune's ribs, appearing visible. She handed it to Hinata who ran to catch up to Shino as Shizune moved to the side of the bridge, pressing her hands against the metallic support beams and sticking there.

As Shino summoned his bugs to pervade into the demon's water-like shield, Hinata slapped a hand supportively against his back, thus tying the rope of chakra to him before she ran to reach Tenten.

"Did you think such pitiful chakra could save you?" The demon observed, lunging forward and slapping Hinata backwards. The force sent her flying wide-eyed through the air, breath escaped from her lungs. She fell hard against the bridge and rolled even further until she found herself hanging from the end of the bridge, one hand hanging to the edge and burning with chakra.

"Hinata!" Shino shouted for his teammate, spinning and abandoning his mission in order to rescue her.

"Too slow!" The demon shouted, the roar around them becoming deafening as the tsunami suddenly hit, catching Tenten with a gasp. She struggled to keep her eyes open and on the demon, but the roar failed to cease as she struggled to gain control of her own dizzying spin. People had died from tsunami far smaller than this one as her lungs burned with desperate need for air. She fought against the urge to breathe as long as possible, being forced to close her eyes and could fight it no longer. She opened her mouth for air and swallowed nothing but water. Panicking, she flailed uselessly as her conciousness quickly faded.


	6. Those Who Inherit the Will of Fire

Every time I post a chapter of this, I feel bad about it so I guess I should apologize again for the lack of Sasuke and Naruto you will be seeing for the next few chapters. In the end, there are going to be two ends of the story... Naruto and Team Naruto... and Naruto is living a very secluded, boring life right now. You'll get plenty of that when it's time is due. Right now I need to spur your interest in everyone else, since you'll be stuck with 'em for a while. In the end, their paths with coalesce again with demons, heroes, Akatsuki and, uhh... Orochimaru abound!

And with this chapter begins my shameless Lee/Gaara shipping... and some unplanned TemaShika

Chapter 6: Those Who Inherit The Will of Fire

It often got hot in Konoha, when the sun chose certain days to beat down upon those who dwelled in the Village of the Hidden Leaf. However, the trees themselves provided mercy for the residents there when the weather chose moments of wrath. They provided shelter from heat, rain, as well as the eyes of one's enemies. In Leaf, ninjas were trained to live using the forest to their advantage.

Nothing could be quite as opposing as the blaring Village of the Hidden Sand. The heat was relentless, leaving with you the sensation that it could melt down your skin and leave you bleeding under the sun. The sand got everywhere - in your eyes, between your toes... and just as you wanted to scream in frustration, the hot wind would kick up and blow it in your face and get caught between your teeth. If Tsunade had put more thought into it, she would have realized how brilliant she was for sending Lee to the desert, because where other ninja would have returned home in a fury, the azure beast of Konoha saw it all as _training_.

To the people who lived in the Village of the Hidden Sand, Rock Lee was at first seen as a bit of a lark. They watched as he trained in the midday sun with slight concern, wondering if this lanky, fuzzy-eyebrowed boy from Leaf might be a few grains short of a beach. After fainting in the heat several times and having to be nursed out of heatstroke, the people of the Sand began growing quite fond of him. Soon, it became a game of amusement - to see how long he would be able to keep doing the same routine every day while the people of the Sand wondered if everyone in Leaf was like this. Eventually, Rock Lee became a bit of a mascot. With his stubborn training routine, his constant sunburn and his absolute loyalty to his own morals, the people found joy in teasing him playfully while adoring him sincerely.

If a child found his ball tossed over the city walls, Lee would spend an entire day trying to conquer the walls without use of chakra, naming the chore 'training' while he did so. Eventually, Gaara would come by and offer his services only to be politely declined by the passionate genin, saying that if he didn't accomplish this task, he would have to make fifty laps around the village at noon without any protection from the blowing sand.

For hours, Lee would attempt to conquer the wall while Gaara would stand back and look on with his arms crossed over his chest as if he had nothing better to do. Lee would assure Gaara every twenty minutes that it wouldn't be much longer, and by the time the sun was going down, Gaara would silently press sand against the wall in order to assist his companion and bring the training session to an end. The first time Lee had tried this, Kankurou had been forced to drag him, weeping and in pain, back into the village after his own punishment had failed. After that, Gaara resolved that he wouldn't let that happen again.

And one day, Gaara returned home from a mission to find Lee sitting on the wall of the village, eyes bloodshot against the wind and grinning. "Gaara-san!" He shouted, standing on the wall and opening his arms to welcome his friend home. "I did it!" And with that, he acknowledged and accepted his friend's help.

In time, Lee's sunburn became a deep tan and the Sand trio taught him a thing or two about dressing more appropriately. He began to fit in perfectly with the leaf symbol on his forehead protector, and the vast amounts of friends he'd made greeting him as he walked through the city. And, by his side was Gaara.

They were a very odd duo, Temari observed as she peered through her window in order to distract herself from the report that she had to write. She herself had found things to admire about the Village of the Leaf, but it was Gaara's suggestion that Lee become a representative for the village in spite of the fact that he wasn't even a chuunin. He actually did very little for the good of the city, taking on D-rank missions and running errands for free. Lee seemed to prefer standing back and cheering Gaara on as he went to do this or that. Lee always saw him off on his missions and greeted him upon his return. When Temari recalled the vicious fight they'd had during the Leaf chuunin exam, she never would have guessed that something like this would have come from it. Then again, Gaara had changed.

Random urges for bloodshed had been something she'd gotten used to several years before - something which she hadn't seen in Gaara since the fight he'd had with that Naruto boy when the Sound attacked the Leaf and the Sandaime died. It seemed that one of them had managed to beat the Shuukaku violently back into submission, where it hadn't been heard from since. Now Gaara had become quiet and observant... even kind as he walked around the village with Lee, who constantly burned with energy and passion. If Temari ever saw the Shuukaku in her brother again, it would be too soon. In spite of the fact that the demon had made life far more interesting, the boy Gaara had been had terrified her. Now, he was someone completely different.

"Enjoy your mission!" Was something that no member of the Sand would have dared to say to a peer. Every mission there was private, and likely to become very violent and potentially dangerous, but there was Lee with his eyes even with Gaara's as he gave the smaller youth an energetic nod. "I know you don't need luck! You're practically Kazekage already, Gaara-san!"

Gaara hummed thoughtfully and lowered his face, eyes even with Lee's. "This mission may take several days, so..."

"Understood!" Lee said, straightening into a salute. "I won't eat or sleep until you return!"

Gaara stared at him in severe silence for a moment, as if wondering how to propose his question which emerged as a simple "...why?"

"Training!" Lee declared loudly. "Every moment that I can't be sure you are completely safe, you might be completely vulnerable! So, I will put myself in the same position, else I'll do five thousand pull-ups on the Kazekage's window!"

Gaara lowered his eyes, a sign that Lee saw often. It was a gesture that seemed to say "your actions are illogical, but I have no reason to argue with you". Gaara never argued. Lee was afraid that if he did, his training system might be ruined.

"Well then," Gaara murmured, turning to exit the Village of the hidden Sand to go on yet another mission that he would soon return from, unscathed, to find loyal Lee, hungry and fretting.

"Take care of yourself!" Lee shouted exhuberantly as Gaara started off, uniting outside of the city gates with the people that would make up the rest of his team, this time being solely Kankurou.

"What a weirdo," was not Kankurou's most articulate of observations as he looked back at Lee with disapproval as the ninja of Konoha continued waving. "Must he always do this?"

"I appreciate it," Gaara vocalized, choosing not to look over his shoulder at the one-man scene that Lee was often prone to creating.

"Hmph," Kankurou grunted, standing back slightly. "Then I guess there's nothing I can say... so let's just get going. We need to get to the border for midday tomorrow."

Gaara nodded and Kankurou took the lead. Observed by no one but Lee, Gaara raised a hand over his shoulder to wave back. Still in the city, Lee dropped his hand to his side, left to decide what to do with himself for the rest of the day before a mission came up. Several days from now, Gaara would be back to press sand under his feet while he tried doing things that every other ninja could do.

"Hey," Shikamaru greeted as he walked into the room where Temari sat, staring out of the window. He _almost_ startled her, except that she refused to show it. He stood with a little slouch and with his hands in his pockets, looking about as enthralled as usual. "You busy?"

Temari wasn't one to waste time. "What are you doing here?" She asked, her head still resting on her hand as she looked fleetingly to the window. "Make it quick, I have things to do."

Shikamaru considered commenting on how she didn't look very productive, but he chose to sigh instead, stretching his arm behind his head and cracking his neck. "Well, there's been a bit of an accident."

He finally caught her attention, and the Shuukaku's older sister leaned forward in her seat. "What happened?"

"Well, there's this Tenten girl... you fought her during the chuunin exam. Anyway, she was a teammate of fuzzy-brows, so we all figured he would probably care that she was injured during a mission." He sighed heavily before continuing. "There was an incident with this demon thing that more or less went on a killing spree. The mission was just to find out what was going on, and the group managed to beat it... but that Tenten girl hasn't been concious since. There's a bit more to it than that, but... you know. Classified Leaf stuff."

Temari nodded slowly. "So they sent you as a replacement?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes. "Well, we were in town, so... Tsunade figured since we haven't done anything useful for the village lately, she wanted to send one of us. The old man went and send me. Waste of time, in my opinion."

Temari sighed, choosing to spare Shikamaru her snark... just this once. "My brothers just left on a mission, so it'll give him something to do for a while."

"You want me to find him?" Shikamaru asked, sounding almost irritated. "You're the Kazekage. Can't you just summon him or something?"

"In case you hadn't noticed," Temari said, gesturing to the pile of papers on her desk, "I've got reports to write. Besides, you're his comrade. He'd rather talk to you."

It had become a game between the two of them. Her sharpness would sting him into doing what she wanted him to do, whether or not it was logical. One day very far from now, Shikamaru might refuse or protest, and maybe then she'd be able to take him seriously. Until then, maybe she didn't need to.

Shikamaru sighed loudly as he gave up, turning to leave the room and mumbling a quiet "women are so tiring..."

Temari pretended she didn't hear it since he was too far away to start lecturing. She stared down at the paper that sat in front of her and sighed her own sigh. She needed a break.

In the Village of the Hidden Sand, all things were gold and blue. And when it didn't remind Lee of Gaara, it reminded him of Naruto, with his eyes like sky and his sunburst hair. How long had it been since the boy vanished along with his rival? Almost two years now, was it? The agony of wondering where he'd gone and whether he was alive came flooding back to Lee as he turned to see Shikamaru approaching him, looking as passionate as ever. Seeing him, Lee was reminded of the mission that he had almost forgotten. The mission he had sworn his life to - the retrieval of Uzumaki Naruto. And as Lee ran to his peer, slipping through the loose sand that lined the training area, Neji's face ran through his mind. _Has my rival found Naruto before I could? Before I was even able to look?_

Shikamaru hopped skillfully backward as Lee tried to stop and slid in the sand, saving the both of them a complicated tangle of limbs as the genin fell alone and left his superior to sigh loudly. "Some things never change," he observed as Lee shook the sand from his hair.

"Did you find him!" Lee shouted, piercing Shikamaru's hearing.

"No," Shikamaru stated, rubbing his pinky along the inside of his ear as Lee uttered an extreme sigh of relief. This happened every time someone made a report to Lee. "The old man's been getting kinda anxious lately, though. I think Neji got assigned to spying duty though - keeping tabs on Sasuke's brother or something, 'cause I haven't seen him in a few weeks." With such a small force, they were having trouble really getting anything done. "Get promoted already, would you? We're really not getting anywhere, we need more manpower."

Lee climbed to his feet slowly. He wanted so badly to join Shikamaru and Neji in Team Naruto. He wanted so badly to have his friend safe and sound, but -

Shikamaru sighed again before Lee could dwell on his decision much, catching the genin's attention. "I came here because of that teammate of yours. That Tenten girl."

"Tenten?" Lee asked loudly, staring up at Shikamaru. "Has something happened to Tenten?"

"You could say that..." Shikamaru muttered.

"Understood!" Lee shouted, adopting a salute for his superior. "I will depart for Konoha immediately!" He cried, running for the Ninja Center Building, where he was lodged during his stay.

"You could have waited for me to be finished..." Shikamaru sighed again. "What a pain." It might take a normal person a few days to get back to Konoha, but without sleep it was hard to say what kind of progress the genin might make. Rock Lee wasn't just any ninja.

Wiping the sweat from his brow, Shikamaru couldn't think of someone quite as energetically as troublesome as Lee. At least he had predictability - not like Naruto. Naruto who - as far as they knew - turned his back on the Village for Sasuke's friendship, leaving everyone else behind. Leaving his friends to possibly turn a kunai to in the future - for Sasuke's sake. Shikamaru shook his head. He had already devoted himself too the cause of Naruto's safe return, so he was better off not being pessimistic. Jiraiya knew that the Akatsuki wanted him, so he kept close tabs to see if they knew where he was. He couldn't accept that his student might have turned his back on him. He refused to even consider it. Shikamaru considered himself a realist, so he decided he was better off doing the same thing.

However, spending time with one-third of the Legendary Trio led Shikamaru to think about how easily things could break you. Loyalties and fondness and other such things were so important in the life of a ninja, and could even end up killing you. Sadly, Shikamaru had taken himself too far to prevent attachments like that. He already cared about people and he hadn't really noticed it happening until it was too late to bother trying not to care, because in spite of how hard he tried he always did... as Chouji had explained to him before he left for the Sand.

He was better off not worrying about it... but it was hard.

Shikamaru started walking back to the Ninja Building, where high atop the Kazekage sat getting no reports done. The entire way to the Sand he had imagined going and taking her out to dinner, although he couldn't figure out how he might get that far. He doubted he would end up bothering to ask. At any rate, he needed to find Lee. The genin had run off without really knowing anything.

Shikamaru chose to wait by the door instead of trying to find Lee when the taijutsu master finally appeared, taking a deep drink from a flask of water before beginning the trip homeward. "Hey, fuzzy-brows," Shikamaru spoke up, moving forward.

Lee looked hurt by the old nickname, but said nothing. Shikamaru sighed.

"It was a mission to Mist. It was a success, and the only one who suffered at all was Tenten," the chuunin said, scanning the area and moving in closer to talk quietly. Lee's round eyes widened as Shikamaru hesitated. "We have a new demon in Konoha."

"Tenten," Lee breathed before taking off with his heart pounding. Shikamaru watched in silence as he ran as fast as he could in the shifting sand toward the gate to Sunagakure - saying goodbye to no one as he fled home.

Shikamaru took a deep breath to strengthen his resolve before he turned. After that, maybe he did have the courage to ask Temari out for dinner after all.


End file.
